Joe Manganiello Featured In Men's Health Magazine

For the ladies…

True Blood’s hunky werewolf, Joe Manganiello, covers the July/August issue of Men’s Health, available for download, June 17th. Manganiello opens up about his real-life superhero moment, getting that famous werewolf body and how losing everything made his success even better.

Highlights from the interview via Men’s Health:

On his career rock bottom:

“About 6 months after the shoot ended {for Spiderman}, I got thrown out of my apartment for not paying rent,” he says. “Lost my car. Lost all my clothes. Furniture. The sheriff gave me 5 minutes to collect my things in a duffle bag and leave the apartment.”

On why he won’t be like his Hollywood heroes:

“My heroes back in drama school were the hard-drinking guys—both actors and rock stars,” Manganiello says. “But that’s not who I was meant to be. I wasn’t meant to get away with stuff. It was the universe’s way of telling me, ‘You’re not allowed to do this half-a$$ed.’ ”

On his real-life superhero moment:

“A friend of mine and I were moving a refrigerator, and it fell down the stairs. I caught it—in the air—and put it down.”

On where he spent his True Blood earnings:

“All the money I was paid as a guest star that year—which was not a lot, after I’d paid out my expenses—I spent on training,” he says. “I netted zero. I lived off my savings, hoping my car didn’t break down. I just put everything into seeing what I could actually do. I think that was the shift.”

On what he thinks the physique of an alpha dog should look like:

“I’m playing a werewolf,” he says. “I want to look sinewy. I want to look like an animal when the shirt comes off, but I want it to be a bit misleading when I have the shirt on.”

On training to be True Blood’s Alcide Herveaux:

“It was very fast-paced, no rest between sets, getting the heart rate up,” he says, as opposed to what he’d been doing before: “Lift heavy, hang out, get back under it.” By the time the shirt came off, he was down to 220. Although he didn’t test his body fat before or after, he figures he lost more than 20 pounds of fat while gaining a few pounds of muscle.

On how diet contributes to his training:

“I don’t think I’ve ever counted calories in my life,” he says as he digs into the steak. “I have no idea. I eat to build. If it doesn’t build something, it’s superfluous.”

We’re happy to see Joe striving after such struggle!

Check out more hot shots of him below:

Photo Credit: Emily Shur