Sofia Vergara has asked the courts to uphold her prenup with estranged husband Joe Manganiello as the pair begin the process of ending their marriage.

The couple of seven years announced their plans to divorce on 17 July. In a joint statement shared with Page Six, the couple said: “We have made the difficult decision to divorce. As two people that love and care for one another very much, we politely ask for respect for our privacy at this time as we navigate this new phase of our lives.”

Two days later, Manganiello, 46, filed for divorce citing “irreconcilable differences” as the cause of the couple’s split. Along with listing the date of separation as July 2, Manganiello noted that there was a prenup in place when they tied the knot in 2015.

In the court documents, Vergara, 51, and her lawyer Troy Christiansen submitted in response, she asked the court to enforce the prenup that would ensure that she would be leaving the marriage with her separate property as well as all her separate earnings, according to Entertainment Tonight.

In 2020, Forbes listed Vergara as the highest paid actress due to a net worth of $43m, much of which she accumulated during her Modern Family days. During Modern Family’s 11 season run, the TV star at one point earned $500,000 per episode, which does not include residuals.

Vergara also took on a new role in 2020 as a judge on America’s Got Talent for a sum of $10m per season and has multiple lucrative endorsement deals with retailers such as Walmart and Rooms To Go.

The actress was introduced to Manganiello by her Modern Family co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2014. The pair hit it off, and in December of that year, Manganiello got down on one knee and proposed. They tied the knot in November of the following year.

Rumours that the couple had separated began to circulate after Vergara was spotted celebrating her 51st birthday in Italy with neither her husband nor her wedding ring a few days before their joint statement was released.

Fans also suggested that the couple had hit a rocky patch in their marriage after Manganiello shared a birthday tribute to his wife of seven years, with some claiming that the Instagram post was surprisingly “cold”.

Speaking to People, a source claimed that the pair had been going through some “ups and downs for a long time,” but “always put on a good front publicly”.

The source shared: “[Sofia] is sad that her marriage didn’t work out, but she feels very fortunate anyway. She has a great life that she loves. She is staying at her house for now. Joe is living elsewhere.”

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