Joe Manganiello goes Instagram official with girlfriend Caitlin O’Connor after Sofia Vergara divorce

Joe Manganiello has gone Instagram official with his new girlfriend, Caitlin O’Connor, months after he announced his divorce from Sofia Vergara.

The 47-year-old actor took to Instagram on 18 February to share his last “week in review,” which included snaps of him and O’Connor. Manganiello and O’Connor were first romantically linked in September when Page Six photographed the pair leaving the gym together.

In the caption of his recent Instagram post, Manganiello started by highlighting some of his recent career opportunities, including his hosting gig for Deal or No Deal Island and filming a music video with his friends.

He then described his recent festivities with his girlfriend, writing: “And celebrated Valentine’s Day with Tool & Caitlin…,” along with a red heart emoji.

The last three photos of the Magic Mike star’s post featured his Valentine’s Day celebration, as he shared a selfie of him and O’Connor, 34, at the Tool concert.

The following photo included a snap of Manganiello in a grey suit and black sunglasses while standing next to a bouquet of red roses. In the final picture of the sequence, O’Connor could be seen posing next to the same floral arrangement and a box of candy, while she wore a silver, mesh shirt over a red mini-dress.

Manganiello’s first Instagram post with his girlfriend comes shortly after they made their red carpet debut as a couple while attending the 20th Children of Armenia Fund Gala in December. In January, they attended The Art of Elysium’s 25th Heaven Gala in Los Angeles together.

Two months before the couple was romantically linked, Manganiello and Vergara announced that they were divorcing after seven years of marriage. “We have made the difficult decision to divorce,” Vergara and Manganiello said in the statement, shared with Page Six in July. “As two people that love and care for one another very much, we politely ask for respect of our privacy at this time as we navigate this new phase of our lives.”

Two days later, Manganiello filed for divorce and cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the couple’s split. He listed the date of separation as 2 July and noted the pair had a prenup. According to Entertainment Tonight, Vergara and her lawyer, Troy Christiansen, later submitted court documents to enforce the prenup, ensuring that she would be leaving the marriage with her separate property as well as all her separate earnings.

Since then, the Modern Family star has continued to open up about her split, as she recently revealed why her marriage ultimately ended. Speaking to El País in January, Vergara confirmed speculation that she and her ex had “conflicting opinions” about having children, which led to their divorce.

“I’m newly divorced from my second husband, who I was with for 10 years. My marriage broke up because my husband was younger; he wanted to have kids and I didn’t want to be an old mom,” she said.

While the America’s Got Talent judge is already a mother to son Manolo Gonzalez Vergara from a previous marriage, she explained that having another child was not in the cards for her. “I feel it’s not fair to the baby,” she continued. “I respect whoever does it, but that’s not for me anymore. I had a son at 19, who is now 32, and I’m ready to be a grandmother, not a mother.”

Vergara also confessed that if “love comes along” in the future, then whoever she dates “has to come with” his own children. “I’m almost in menopause; it’s the natural way of things,” she added. “When my son becomes a dad, let him bring the baby to me for a while and then I’ll give it back to him and go on with my life; that’s what I have to do.”