Numerous tragedies have marked the life of Sofia Vergara, but the biggest is the murder of her brother: "He knew he was the target of the kidnappers."

Sofia Vergara is one of the most successful and highest-paid actresses of today, and best known to all as Gloria from the “Modern Family” series in which she starred from 2009 to 2020.

Sofia has been making viewers all over the world laugh to tears for years, but her life behind the camera was everything but funny. It was marked by several tragedies and temptations, the biggest of which was certainly the 1998 murder of her older brother Rafael.

At the time, 28-year-old Rafael was killed on the streets of Bogota, the capital of Colombia, in a kidnapping that went wrong. Namely, Sofia's family was famous and successful in the Colombian capital, which made all members an easy and attractive target. She and her siblings attended the private bilingual school Marymount International School Barranquilla, and Rafael as a boy even went to school accompanied by bodyguards who did not separate from him.

"We come from a successful family and he was aware that he was the target of the kidnappers. He always had bodyguards, but then one day he went out on the street alone and was shot during the kidnapping attempt. I was devastated," the actress admitted in an interview.

In 2013, the National Enquirer published news that authorities had reopened an investigation into the entire case.

"This is not news. It is disrespectful. We know everything we need to know about my brother's death," Sofia wrote on Twitter at the time.

After the murder of her older brother, Sofia brought her mother, sister, and younger brother Julio from Colombia to live with her in Miami. But she soon witnessed Julio’s problems with drug and alcohol addiction and he was reportedly arrested more than 30 times over a 10-year period.

According to Miami News, Julio was arrested three times in 2010 in the same month, each time for marijuana. A year later, an immigration judge ordered his deportation back to Colombia.

Sofia has on several occasions expressed concern for her younger brother.

"He started with alcohol, then switched to cocaine and crack. Now he's become a different person. Watching him die somehow for more than 10 years, little by little, that's the worst punishment. But with so many bad things happening to me I'm getting stronger, even when terrible things happen to me, I keep going, " she told Parade magazine in 2011.

And one of the horrible things Sofia experienced was a diagnosis of thyroid cancer that she found out about in 2000. For Parade, she also revealed how shocked she was by this knowledge at the age of just 28.

"I never took drugs or smoked. I don't eat red meat. I felt completely healthy and suddenly they told me I had cancer. I was scared and I immediately thought of my child," she admitted.

Immediately after the diagnosis, she underwent thyroid removal surgery, which was preceded by radiation therapy, but she kept everything a secret. Years later, she explained that she did not want to go public with it because it was difficult enough for her without additional publicity.

“I got rid of cancer, but I have to be on medication my whole life,” she said.

Sofia tried to keep another private battle a secret, but she failed because in 2017 she was forced to submit legal documents to her ex-fiancé Nick Loeb allowing him to use their two frozen embryos without her consent.

Namely, the couple dated for two years before they broke up in 2014, and Nick filed a request for the first time a year later to use full custody of the sustainable embryos he and the actress created together in 2013. He wanted his surrogate mother to give birth to children and then raise them as a single parent. However, with the help of a lawyer, Sofia managed to leave the embryos frozen indefinitely at a fertility clinic in Beverly Hills because she does not want to have children with her ex, and she also thought that Nick was looking for publicity after she married Joe Manganiello.

"I worked very hard for 20 years to get to this point where I am now. I promote my films, I love my job, but I don't like to promote my private life. So I don't want to let that person take advantage of my career and try to promote himself. People shouldn't give their opinions on this at all. The papers have been signed and there is nothing more to talk about," Sofia said.

In January 2021, Nick lost another legal battle again, and a Louisiana judge denied his claim.

Behind Sofia is also one failed marriage to  Joe Gonzalez with whom he shares 29-year-old son  Manolo Gonzalez-Ripollo Vergara.

By: Olivia J. - Gossip Whispers