Actress Sofia Vergara has been embroiled in a legal battle with her ex-boyfriend after he repeatedly sued her in a bid to keep the embryos alive the couple had frozen during their two-year relationship. Now the 46-year-old has revealed she believes her ex Nick Leob is using the embryo court case to destroy her marriage to Joe Manganiello.

Sofia Vergara and Joe ManganielloSofia Vergara and married Joe Manganiello in 2015

The Modern Family star, who has just been revealed as the highest paid US TV actress by a significant margin, married Joe in 2015 but believes Nick attempt to take her to task for their embroys is an attempt to derail her new relationship.

Sofia and Nick froze two female embryos, which they had created and planned to use with a surrogate during their relationship before their split.

However, afterwards he wanted to keep them yet she wanted them to remain frozen.

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Sources who have spoken to TMZ say the actress is convinced the row has nothing to do with wanting the embryos and is merely a bid to harm her relationship.

The inside claims came as Leob, who has named the embryos Emma and Isabella, moved his legal battle to Louisiana as the pro-life state recogises embryos as humans.

Despite being a California resident, his attorneys, Pierre Miller and Jasha McQueen, confirmed he is renting a home in the area - although sources close to Sofia insist he is using the house as a front to continue his fight.

Nick has been blocked from bringing the embryos to term twice by the actress but in April this year he filed a third lawsuit.

Sofia, who is a mum to 26-year-old Manolo Gonzalez-Ripoll Vergara, and Nick have been fighting in the nasty battle for years.

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Nick first sued his ex in early 2015 for custody of the female embryos they created together while they were engaged in 2013.

While they were dating, the former couple signed a document saying they both had to consent to implant the embryos in a surrogate. The pair broke up in May 2014.

Loeb wants to see the frozen embryos grow to term and become his daughters while Sofia wants to see them remain frozen.

Loeb dropped his case in 2016 a day before another one was filed by an unknown third party in Louisiana representing the embryos as plaintiffs.