Sofia Vergara is still in a legal battle with her own frozen embryos.
Yep, its just as mind-boggling as it sounds.
For the past three years, the Modern Family actress has been locked in a bitter legal dispute with her ex-boyfriend Nick Loeb, who filed the lawsuit against Sofia on behalf of her own frozen eggs.
Sofia, 46, and Nick, 43, had dated for two years before splitting in May 2014, ending their engagement.
While still dating in 2013, the pair signed a document which stated that they could not use the embryos without the other partys consent.
But in 2015, a year after their split, Nick filed a right-to-live lawsuit in California. This was later dropped but he then filed a new suit in Louisiana as its a pro-life state and recognises embryos as humans or juridical persons.
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Its reported that Nick has named the two female embryos “Isabella” and “Emma”.
The businessman reportedly claims that if the embryos arent brought to life, they are being denied the right to an inheritance fund set up in their name.
Sofia has successfully blocked Nick from using the embryos and creating life twice but he filed a third lawsuit in April 2018.
Although it was reported that Sofia had lost her rights to the eggs in June, the legal battle is still ongoing with no resolve as yet.
So what have Nick and Sofia said about the embryos?
In 2015, a rep for Sofia was clear to state that the actress does not want the embryos destroyed but rather, have them remain frozen.
The rep said: Vergara has never suggested that she wished to have the embryos destroyed … She has always maintained that they be kept frozen, a fact of which Loeb and his counsel have always been aware, despite Loebs statements to the contrary.
That same year, Sofia herself gave a rare interview about the complex dispute and told Good Morning America: Ive been working very hard for 20 years to get to this point where I am, enjoying my movie.
I promote all my movies, all my work, but I dont like promoting my private life and I dont understand why this person… I dont want to allow this person to take more advantage of my career and try to promote himself and get press for this.
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She added: This shouldnt be out there for people to give their opinion. Theres nothing to talk about, theres papers signed.
Coincidentally, the same week of Sofias GMA interview, Nick told Howard Stern that he didnt hate the actress and actually had tremendous respect for her.
The situation took an even more bizarre twist in April 2018 when Nick reportedly compared their legal case to slavery.
According to The Blast, the lawsuit reportedly says that this type of legal argument has happened only one other time in United States history from which any legal precedent may be reviewed – the pre-Civil War era.
It continues: Under these simple definitions, a human embryo, if believed to be a human being and alive, (which is our contention) would be considered a slave and the parents would be the owners of the slave, particularly in states where they are considered property.
There was a question at the time as to whether New York had the jurisdiction to reach into Louisiana and retrieve Northup. But the New York governor discussed it with Louisiana officials and they were allowed to retrieve him.
There are also dozens of cases (called the Freedom Suits), where slaves themselves or their family members applied for freedom in slave states and won.
The reference to slave cases is to demonstrate the jurisdictional and legal issues arising from this stark difference in how human beings are categorised. In modern day, frozen human embryo disputes and the question of how they are categorised (human being or property) has become more frequent.
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Since there is little or no legislation in most states on this issue, state courts are left to decide if embryos are human beings or property or something in between and what to do in cases of dispute.
Most recently in October 2018, a source told TMZ that Sofia feels Nick is using the embryo lawsuit to come between her marriage with Joe Manganiello whom she tied the knot with in 2015.
Sofias embryos are currently said to be frozen in a Beverly Hills clinic.
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