Los Angeles, May 5 (IANS): Hollywood actress Sofia Vergara says she was "forced" to date Joe Manganiello.

The 42-year-old, who stars in the hit show "Modern Family", has revealed she was initially reluctant to date the "True Blood" hunk because Manganiello, now 38, is younger than she is and she'd recently separated from Nick Loeb, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Vergara said on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show": "At the beginning I didn't want to go out with him. Because I had just finished a relationship."

"He seemed like a lot of work because so handsome and younger than me and like so sexy and whatever best bachelor or whatever he was. And I'm like ugh. Just too much! But he convinced me. He flew to New Orleans and forced me on a date."

"I'm like he's a great guy, super fun, super normal and we have like - we click. Like it's super easy to hang out with him."

Vergara and Manganiello got engaged on Christmas day last year, and the actress recently admitted they've already hired a wedding planner to stop them from getting anxious ahead of their special day.

She said: "We're already planning. The good thing is that now-a-days you can hire someone to help you and I have a great planner that is taking a lot of the stress away."