He wasn't always a muscle man! Joe Manganiello reveals he was once a scrawny kid with glasses... as he opens up about his battle with alcoholism
By Shyam Dodge
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Joe Manganiello was once a scrawny kid who performed poorly in sports.
The 36-year-old hunk reveals in his new book about fitness that failure as an adolescent taught him important lessons about success.
The muscular actor also writes in the self-help tome about his struggles with alcoholism in his 20s before achieving fame on television shows such as HBO's True Blood.
Not always so buffed: Joe Manganiello reveals in his new self-help book that he was once a scrawny kid before he built up his body
Joe talked with HuffPost Live on Tuesday about his new book Evolution: The Cutting Edge Guide To Breaking Down Mental Walls And Building The Body You've Always Wanted.
The brawny star shared a flashback memento from his fitness thesis of himself as a skinny kid with glasses wearing a jersey as he awkwardly clutches a basketball.
Using the snap as a reference, the 6ft5in hunk expressed his views on overcoming adversity as an adolescent: 'Failure became a huge part of my success story.
Opening up: Joe has been sober for 11 years, pictured in New York City on Monday
'Now, you hear about these soccer games
kids play when goals aren't counted. Everybody gets the orange slice and
the pat on the back and everybody says "Good job!" And that wasn't the
case for me and I think I benefited from that.'
Adding: 'I'm glad that I lost, I'm glad that I failed, I'm glad that I felt that way and decided to do something about it ... I never wanted to feel that way again and it drove me.'
Joe also described his battle with substance abuse in his 20s: 'There was a period of about four years where I needed to quit drinking. And the drinking got in the way [of my career].
'My life was ruined. I was homeless, careless and broke with no career, so yes, it was worth it [to get sober].'
Star-making role: Joe plays werewolf Alcide Herveaux in HBO's True Blood opposite Anna Paquin
'And I talk about that a lot in the book. It was one of those obstacles that I had to get over and once again I needed to clear the road in order for these things to happen, so it really is an inside job.'
The star has now been 11 years sober.
Joe can be seen as werewolf Alcide Herveaux in HBO's True Blood, which will air its seventh and final season in 2014.
His book Evolution hit bookstores on Tuesday
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Tough As Nails, Wild Wild West, Germany, 1 month ago
Back then they didn't want him..........................................