Justin Hartley's Relationship With Sofia Pernas Shows His New Approach To Life

A new year brought a new official romance for This Is Us star Justin Hartley, who went Instagram official in his relationship with fellow actor Sofia Pernas on New Year's Eve. The two were rumored to have been dating for months following Hartley's 2019 divorce from Selling Sunset star Chrishell Stause, his wife of two years, and now that rumored romance has blossomed into a marriage. Pernas, 31, was a costar of Hartley's on the soap opera The Young & the Restless — just as Stause was. Who knew soaps were such matchmaking havens?

Hartley's split from Stause was apparently just as dramatic as the soap on which they appeared together. According to Us Weekly, Stause was caught by surprise when Hartley filed for divorce after two years of marriage. He listed the couple's separation date as July 2019, but Stause claimed that they’d been together until the day he filed for divorce: Nov. 22, 2019. The ensuing events were captured on the third season of Netflix’s Selling Sunset. "I'm just kind of in shock with it all," Strauss says in a preview of the season. "The crazy way in which this went down ... people want answers. I want answers."

Well, that answer has arrived via social media. After Hartley was spotted by TMZ kissing Sofia Pernas in May 2020 and People reported in June that the duo had been dating for a few weeks before that, the actor and his new love decided to close out 2020 by making their relationship public.

Pernas was the first of the two to share their relationship on Instagram, sharing a New Year's Eve selfie of herself and Hartley with the caption, "Sayonara 2020, it's been real. Happy New Year from our quarantine den to yours," ending her post with a heart emoji. Sofia's snap was followed up by one from Justin around an hour later. His was in black and white and showed both Pernis and himself in formal attire as they rang in 2021. "Last minutes of 2020 here in LA. Bring on 2021! Happy New Year!" Hartley captioned the image.

Going IG official is a bit of a departure for Hartley, who tends to favor keeping his personal life as private as he can. "If [fans are] getting entertainment from [my personal life], I think it sort of comes with the territory, but I've also sort of always had this view that I will have a public life but I will be very private about my personal affairs," the actor told Radio Andy in an October interview, according to People.

But it looks like Hartley and Pernas, who made their red carpet debut at the MTV Movie & TV Awards on Sunday, May 16, 2021, are becoming more comfortable sharing more of their life with the public. A day after their appearance, for which they sported some traditional jewelry on their ring fingers, People confirmed Hartley and Pernas were officially married. Not much is known about their wedding, but the outlet reported that it happened “recently.”

As for Stause, she’s moved on, too. After enduring her own romance rumors, the 39-year-old went Instagram official herself with Dancing with the Stars pro Keo Motsepe back on Dec. 3. "The internet has absolutely zero chill," Stause wrote on Instagram at the time, captioning a photo of Motsepe kissing her on the cheek. "So I guess you saw this already, but I’m just gonna leave this here." In February, however, Stause and Motsepe mutually agreed to split up.