Joe Manganiello debuts massive dragon tattoo to cover his surgery scars from mystery illness
Joe Manganiello debuts massive dragon tattoo to cover his surgery scars from mystery illness
Leigh BlickleyTue, October 20, 2026 at 1:35 PM UTC
0
Joe Manganiello’s large dragon tattooCredit: Kevin Mazur/Getty; Joe Manganiello/InstagramKey Points -
Joe Manganiello has shared photos of his new ink.
The actor got a massive dragon tattoo to cover his surgery scars from a mystery illness.
Manganiello secretly battled an autoimmune disease and had his large intestine removed in 2016.
Joe Manganiello has a new tattoo, and it has a special meaning to him.
The actor revealed his massive dragon ink on Instagram Monday, sharing that he got his first tattoo as a symbol of strength as he was fighting a mystery autoimmune disease. Manganiello, 49, disclosed his diagnosis in June after years of secretly battling the illness, which he also discusses in his new book, Bloodlines.
Manganiello had emergency surgery on his large intestine in 2016 due to his symptoms, and was given an ostomy bag — an external medical device that collects waste from a surgical opening in the abdomen called a stoma, per the Cleveland Clinic.
He said the three-foot dragon tattoo was a way to cover the scars and represent a new beginning.
“BLOODLINES • Chapter 4 • Enter the Dragon,” his social media post, which included multiple photos of the ink, began.
He continued, “In chapter four, I related my struggle with the illness to my body sending out knights to fight a (western) dragon that didn’t exist. The soldiers would then punch holes throughout my body when they couldn’t find an enemy. The idea to cover my surgery scars with my first tattoo, a three foot dragon down my right side, was my effort to take back what little agency I felt that I had, and to signal to my body to stop attacking the dragon… because the (eastern) dragon was me…”
As seen in the pictures he shared, the tattoo extends from Manganiello’s right hip and abdomen down to his knee — with the head of the dragon below his belly button. The beast’s body drapes down his leg and thigh, and the tail stops right before the knee.
Advertisement
Manganiello covered his body with a towel in the the photos, which show the tattoo artist’s process and progress of completing the black, red, and orange dragon.
Joe Manganiello’s dragon tattooCredit: Joe Manganiello/Instagram
Manganiello has been sharing snippets of his health journey as Bloodlines hit bookshelves this month. The memoir covers everything from his marriage to ex-wife Sofía Vergara to finding out his family’s history with autoimmune disorders.
“There are remnants from the surgeries and procedures that I have to live with, but I don’t complain about them because life is manageable,” Manganiello told Entertainment Weekly of his heath ordeal. “I weathered that storm and came out of the other end, and I say it in the book, but life began again for me. So the answer is healthy, happy, peaceful — which is quite a difference from what I went through in the book.”
Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.
Although he’s in a better place now, the True Blood alum told EW he would “never choose to go through it again.”
“The fact that I’m through it and on the other side of it does not escape me every single morning that I go outside and walk the dog,” he said. “I smell the grass, and I listen to the wind blowing through the leaves in the trees in my yard, and I wave hello to my neighbors and see them walking their dogs. I can’t believe I got through it. It was a hell of a first half of life, and I hope the second half is a little more peaceful.”
Bloodlines is out now.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
