The impact of her brother’s death was devastating. She said it “destroyed my mother. It changed our lives completely. We didn’t know what was happening, why he was killed.”

Vergara said that after watching the documentary he Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami In 2006, she discovered Blanco’s ties to Colombia and Miami.

Where is Sofía Vergara from?

According to her IMDb profile, the 52-year-old Vergara was born and raised in the vibrant city of Barranquilla, Colombia. Her mother, Margarita Vergara Dávila, is a housewife, while her father, Julio Enrique Vergara Robayo, works in the meat industry. According to the same biography, she attended private school and studied dentistry until she was discovered by a photographer on a beach and began her modeling and acting career.

How many brothers and sisters does Sofía Vergara have?

Vergara is one of six siblings. Although they are very private, Vergara spoke candidly to the Daily Mail about how her other brother was affected by Rafael’s death. “My other brother, who was very close to him, became an alcoholic and then a crack addict because of the trauma,” she said.

What happened to Rafael, Sofía Vergara’s brother?

According to Metro, Vergara’s brother Rafael was murdered on the street in Bogota in 1996 when he was only 28 years old.

“We come from a successful family and he knew he was a target for kidnapping,” Vergara told the Daily Mail. “He always had bodyguards. Then one day he went out on his own and was shot dead (in an attempted kidnapping). I was devastated.”

In the same interview, she explained that “unfortunately, in Colombia at that time, the tentacles of the drug trade were everywhere,” and that “everything was touched by it.” She added: “My brother was a nice guy – a good guy. But he made a wrong decision and unfortunately he paid for it. We all paid for it.”

She moved with her family to the US

After her brother’s death, Vergara decided to move her family — her mother, sister and younger brother — to the United States to live with her, according to Variety . “It was hard because I had to take responsibility for my entire family,” she told the publication.

She once criticized Perez Hilton for his reporting on her brother’s death

In 2013, it was reported that her brother’s case had been reopened by authorities, but the actress responded strongly to the claims.

“This is not news. This is disrespectful,” she posted on X at the time, linking to gossip site Perez Hilton’s article about the rumored investigation. “We already know everything we need to know about my brother’s death.”

Hilton appears to have learned his lesson, as he has since deleted the post and responded to Vergara’s tweet at the time, writing: “@SofiaVergara, I’m sorry you found this disrespectful. It was written with compassion and no offense. Really.”