Joe Manganiello's secret seven-year health battle that nearly killed him

Joe Manganiello is opening up about the secret health battle that nearly "took his life" over 7 years.

Manganiello sat down with "CBS Mornings" to discuss his health and his newly released memoir, "Bloodlines." During his appearance, the actor told Gayle King that he was offered the role as the main villain, Deathstroke, in Ben Affleck's canceled "Batman" movie.

He wrote in his memoir that at the same time as the job offer, he was "dying." Manganiello received the call to appear in the movie in 2016.

"I got the call about a month out of the hospital after I collapsed on another set," Manganiello told King.

"After about a year of feeling these mystery symptoms, I went into the hospital for two months straight and at the end of my stay, they wound up having to remove my entire large intestine to save my life." JOE MANGANIELLO DENIES SOFIA VERGARA’S CLAIM MARRIAGE ENDED BECAUSE HE WANTED A BABY: ‘SIMPLY NOT TRUE’ "They had split me open.

My entire large intestine had turned to pus and it was about to explode," he continued.

"They took it out and the surgery left me with an ostomy bag.

And in the wake of that, I lost 60 pounds in two weeks.

I couldn't walk.

My eye went cross-eyed.

I lost my voice.

I had five catheters." Manganiello explained that after he was released from the hospital, he was in the process of trying to gain the weight back when he got the call to meet Affleck and appear in the "Batman" movie.

The actor told King that he was still married to Sofia Vergara at the time and she was the one who ultimately made the decision for the doctors to save his life and remove his large intestine.

"They had to call her as my next of kin and give her options of what she thought I would want done to me while I was unconscious.