Justin Hartley opened up about meeting now-wife Sofia Pernas while he was dating Chrishell Stause and how they reconnected years later: 'The timing was right'

• Justin Hartley discussed meeting Sofia Pernas in 2015, when he was dating Chrishell Stause.
• He told Haute Living he found Pernas when she was available and the "timing was right" to reconnect.

Justin Hartley spoke in a Haute Living interview published Tuesday about reconnecting with Sofia Pernas, whom he first met when he was with his then-wife, the "Selling Sunset" star Chrishell Stause.

The "This Is Us" actor, 44, married Pernas, 32, in March. They initially met as costars on CBS's "The Young and the Restless" in 2015 but had a platonic relationship. At the time, Hartley was dating Stause, who appeared on the soap opera in 2016.

Hartley told the publication he and Pernas "didn't work together that closely" nor did they "work together that long" on the show.

"I knew that she was very kind and very nice. I liked being around her. But I was in a different place in my life. I wasn't available," he said.

Hartley went on to marry Stause in 2017 and filed for divorce two years later.

Though Hartley has not offered details on how or when he and Pernas reconnected, they were first rumored to be romantically involved in May 2020, when TMZ published photographs of the former costars kissing.

He told Haute Living that he felt "very lucky to not only have found 'the one'" but also have "found her when she was available and the timing was right."

"When I re-met her, I just knew," he said.

Hartley raved about his marriage with the actress, describing it as "healthy" and saying he was "happier" than he'd even been.

"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 said, adding: "It's hard to remember what it was like without her."

On the fourth season of "Selling Sunset," Stause reacted to the news that Hartley and Pernas wed by saying that "a lot of things made sense after finding that out."

She added: "I wish them the best. You know, I think that actually, if anything, it felt good to know that. It felt like a little bit of closure."

Pernas is Hartley's third wife. Before his union with Stause, he was married to the actor Lindsay Hartley (née Korman) from 2004 to 2012. They share a 17-year-old daughter named Isabella together.