It's hard to imagine a guy like "True Blood" star Joe Manganiello as anything but lupine and perpetually single, but it helps that his girlfriend, actress Audra Marie, is equally stunning.
The couple turned up at a Friday night Emmy Awards celebration hosted by Women in Film and Entertainment Weekly, an intimate bash at the Sunset Marquis hotel in West Hollywood.
Manganiello told the Ministry that he and Marie have had a "surreal" year with his attention overload from playing Alcide on HBO's vampire hit -- maybe their plan to hit Italy and Greece while the show is on hiatus will ease that a bit?
Until then, at least their Emmy itinerary is set, from showtime to the after-parties. "Season 2's got the nominations, and it's their year," he said of cast members such as newlyweds Stephen Moyer and Anna Paquin. "We're going to watch on the couch and then head out."
And yes, Joe's seen the version of his recent Rolling Stone cover on which Paquin's been photoshopped out, leaving Moyer and Aleksander Skarsgard in a hot embrace. His reaction? Sending it straight to Moyer, he said.
With the cast members so, um, close, we had to ask: Given his costars' recent nuptials, does Manganiello have the itch to pop the question to Marie?
"You'll be the first to know," he told his partner.
Good answer.
-- Matt Donnelly
Photo: Joe Manganiello at the Sunset Strip Music Festival. Credit: Associated Press
Related dispatches from the Ministry of Gossip:
'True Blood' wolf Joe Manganiello howls at Breakthrough of the Year awards
'Twilight' wolfpack wants the number for Joe Manganiello's trainer
A werewolf in San Diego (and other 'True Blood' sightings from Comic-Con)