The actor touches on his great relationship with his wife and how he's happier than ever.
It's all about the perfect timing. Justin Hartley reflected on meeting his now wife, Sofia Pernas, when the timing wasn't right. The This Is Us star first met the actress when they worked together on The Young and the Restless from 2015 to 2016.
"You meet in different capacities. We didn’t work together that closely, and we didn’t work together that long. I knew that she was very kind and very nice. I liked being around her," Hartley tells Haute Living in a new interview. "But I was in a different place in my life. I wasn’t available."
At the time, Hartley was with ex-wife Chrishell Stause. He and the Selling Sunset star started dating in 2014 and got married in 2017, before Hartley filed for divorce in November 2019. Their divorce was finalized in February 2021.
"Timing has a lot to do with that. I’m very lucky to not only have found ‘the one,’ but I found her when she was available and the timing was right," he adds.
Amid his divorce, Hartley reconnected with Pernas and the two started dating in 2020, before getting married earlier this year.
"We got married in March, and we are so happy! It’s incredible when you’re not forcing things. It doesn’t have to be that hard. You just meet the right person and you just go, ‘Oh, this is amazing. It’s just so wonderful!’" he expresses. "You’re so attracted and so attached to this person. You just love this person so much. Even though we’ve only been married a few months, it’s hard to remember what it was like without her."
Hartley recalls that when he "re-met" Pernas, "I just knew. It’s so interesting about the human heart and human mind. It’s not a codependency; I’m just at peace with myself. I feel loved and I feel appreciated. I know she feels the same way. We just have a really great relationship and a really terrific family. It’s healthy and it’s wonderful."
A source had previously told ET that Stause was "a little surprised" by Hartley's quick marriage to Pernas. "Chrishell feels like things happened pretty fast between Justin and Sofia and she is a little surprised by their marriage," the source said at the time. "Chrishell is trying to stay positive and busy. She is focused on her real estate career, filming Selling Sunset, and surrounding herself with good friends and loved ones."
Stause previously claimed on season 3 of Selling Sunset that Hartley had blindsided her with their breakup, texting her that he had filed for divorce 45 minutes before news broke.
However, on Hartley's end, he tells the outlet that Pernas completes him and "everything is easier with her in my life."
"I also feel like I’m better at stuff. I learn from her. She speaks five languages. She’s brilliant, she’s incredible, she’s fun to look at. Everything about her is amazing — she’s just hilarious," he marvels. "She inspires me to want to be a better man, like Jack Nicholson said in As Good as It Gets. I want to rise to the occasion because she’s so great. She does make me want to be a better person, and [this kind of love] certainly does complete me."
“I’m happier than I’ve ever been. I’m fulfilled in so many ways," he continues, touching on his 17-year-old daughter Isabella, whom he shares with his first wife, Lindsay Hartley. "My daughter is doing great in high school — she’s off to college soon, which is sad, but it’s also very exciting. I’ve met my life partner. I’ve got a really great imagination, but I could not have imagined someone like this. She’s off the charts."
The actor, continuing to count his blessings, adds that he's "fulfilled in so many different ways. My relationships in life are great — my friends, my family. I’m a very lucky, fortunate man. And I know that.”
Hartley recently spoke with ET, where he gushed over his wife at the This Is Us premiere. Watch the video below to hear more.
RELATED CONTENT:
