Chrishell Stause’s ex-husband Justin Hartley says marriage is ‘incredible when you’re not forcing things’

The actor married Sophie Pernas in March after filing for divorce from Stause in November 2019

Sophie Pernas and Justin Hartley (Getty Images)

Justin Hartley, the ex-husband of Selling Sunset’s Chrishell Stause, has described marriage as “incredible when you’re not forcing things”.

The This Is Us star, who has been divorced twice – from Stause and Lindsay Korman – has opened up about his third marriage to Sophie Pernas in a new interview with Haute Living.

Hartley and Pernas married in March this year, 16 months after he filed for divorce from Stause in November 2019.

News of the divorce and its impact on Stause was documented in the third season of Selling Sunset, during which she claimed he had notified her of their separation via text.

Speaking of his marriage to Pernas, Hartley said the pair are “so happy”.

“It’s incredible when you’re not forcing things. It doesn’t have to be that hard,” he said.

“You just meet the right person and you just go, ‘Oh, this is amazing. It’s just so wonderful!’ You’re so attracted and so attached to this person. You just love this person so much.”

The actor added that although they have been married less than a year, “it’s hard to remember what it was like without her”.

He also told the magazine that “everything is easier” with Pernas in his life, and that she inspires him to be a “better man”.

“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 said.

“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.”

Hartley first met Pernas while the pair were filming soap opera The Young and Restless in 2015. At the time, he was in a relationship with Stause.

The actor said he knew he liked being around Pernas at the time, but he “wasn’t available”.

“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 said.

Hartley’s first wife was Lindsay Korman, and the pair share a 17-year-old daughter named Isabella. They divorced in 2012 after eight years of marriage.

He married Stause in 2017, three years after they began dating. In the latest season of Selling Sunset, Stause said she has moved on and that she wishes Hartley and Pernas the best.

“My ex-husband Justin is remarried to someone I know from back in the day, pretty well, and a lot of things made sense after finding that out,” she said.

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