Justin Hartley on marriage to Sofia Pernas: ‘Incredible when you’re not forcing things’

Justin Hartley says his nine-month-old marriage to Sofia Pernas has made him happier than he's ever been and that marriage is "incredible when you're not forcing things."

The "This Is Us" star, 44, who divorced "Selling Sunset" star Chrishell Stause, 40, in 2019 after only two years of marriage, gushed about his new bride in an interview with Haute Living that was published Tuesday.

"We got married in March, and we are so happy!” Hartley said. “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!’ 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. When I re-met her, 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.”

Stause shared her reaction to her ex-husband's nuptials during the latest season of “Selling Sunset.”

“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 on the show about Pernas.

Stause, Pernas and Hartley were all part of the cast of the soap opera “The Young and the Restless” in 2016.

“I think that actually, if anything, it felt good to know that. It felt like a little bit of closure," Stause said.

Pernas, 32, is Hartley's third wife. He has a daughter, Isabella, 17, with first wife Lindsay Hartley, whom he divorced in 2012.

“I’m happier than I’ve ever been,” Hartley told Haute Living. “I’m fulfilled in so many ways. 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.

"I’m fulfilled in so many different ways. My relationships in life are great — my friends, my family.”

The former “The Young and the Restless” co-stars went public with their romance in January before tying the knot in March.

"Everything is easier with her in my life," Hartley said. "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.

"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."

Hartley, who plays Kevin Pearson on "This Is Us," also gave a hint at what fans can expect as the sixth and final season gets underway next month.

“Kevin has a lot of decisions to make, and that will be part of the beginning of the final season," he said. "We’ll be seeing how he navigates his circumstance with Madison, with his kids, not going through with the wedding. His love life, his career, his family, his mother, all that stuff. It’s like a line in the sand: before this moment and after this moment. He’s a changed man. He’s got a lot more responsibilities now, certainly, than he used to."

Even Hartley does not completely know how the hit NBC drama will end.

"I know some of it," he said. "I don’t think it’s all been fully written, but I can tell you that I know some of it. Some of it’s already been shot — years ago.”

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