Joe Manganiello shares new details of mystery seven-year illness that resulted in 'amputation'

Joe Manganiello has spoken further about the devastating illness he suffered through for years ahead of the release of his memoir Bloodlines.

The True Blood actor has his book out later this year and in it he details a previously undisclosed illness he struggled with for a long time.

He's since taken to Instagram to explain things further and provide some more details about what he was suffering through, as Manganiello revealed that he had largely kept his health issues silent.

“For the better part of the last decade, most people don’t know this but I suffered in silence battling a deadly mystery illness," he said.

"And, other than a very small circle of family and friends, I hid it from the rest of the world until recently hadn’t really shared what I had gone through."

The 49-year-old said he'd been treated by the 'best doctors in the world' but despite the various consultations and examinations 'none of them could explain what started my illness'.

He said: "Their attempts to treat it with high-powered biologic drugs only exacerbated my symptoms and then unlocked a host of brutal side effects that wound up plaguing me for years.

And then, in attempts to buy myself time, I underwent very serious operations and procedures that mutilated parts of my body and left me so weak at times that I couldn’t stand up or walk.

“I spent months and months heavily medicated while dealing with excruciating bouts of chronic pain.”

He had previously said that he'd been 'plagued by chronic pain' which resulted in him needing a 'life-saving organ amputation'.

Manganiello explained that the illness had occurred suddenly, without warning, and that 'a cascade of autoimmune-related illnesses attacked his skin, thyroid, eyes, lungs, and digestive system'.

Suffering through an absolutely torrid time, the actor said that the years he had the illness were 'the most brutally difficult time of my life' and an experience he 'wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy'.

Despite the pain and sickness he also said it had been the impetus for his 'greatest adventure'.

He said: "I hope that what I went through on this journey can give readers hope that answers and healing may lie for them on the other side of whatever they are fighting through.

"The process of writing this book gave me the gift of perspective that helped me to see that my suffering was a cocoon from which I would emerge forever changed."

Bloodlines releases on 13 October this year.