Has Justin Hartley moved on from his wife yet? Inside his new relationship

Justin Hartley is not letting the backlash from his divorce slow down his love life. The actor has rebounded from his split with Selling Sunset star Chrishell Stause and started a relationship with former co-star Sofia Pernas. The couple were spotted together as far back as May, but sources and social media have since confirmed that they’re official.

Hartley and Pernas met during the production of the soap opera The Young and the Restless in 2015. Hartley was playing series bad boy Adam Newman when Pernas was cast as Newman’s screen girlfriend Marisa Sierras. The pair acted alongside each other for a year before Hartley left to join the ensemble of This Is Us.

Stause was also a cast member on The Young and the Restless at the time. She told Us Weekly that a friend encouraged her to go on a date with Hartley, and the pair quickly hit it off. “The next day I texted my friend: ‘I found him,’ ” she recalled. The couple announced their engagement in July 2016 and were married on October 28, 2017.

Former co-stars

Hartley’s friendship with Pernas died down after he married Stause, and the former co-stars were not seen together until he announced his divorce. TMZ reported that the pair were seen outside of a Los Angeles doctor’s office in May, and that Pernas gave Hartley a kiss before she dropped him off. 

An insider shed light on the kiss during an interview with People. “[Sofia] was very much a doting girlfriend. She dropped him off in the morning and returned to pick him up a few hours later,” the insider claimed. “She helped him into the car and had a cold drink for him. They returned to his house and were there the whole weekend together.” 

The insider also stated that Hartley and Pernas had been dating for “several weeks” and they seemed “incredibly happy” together. The couple went quiet in the months following their public rendezvous, but they began to post cryptic photos of one another around the season 3 premiere of Selling Sunset in August.

Social media clues

On August 9th, Pernas posted a photo of a man holding a cigar and a drink on her Instagram Stories. She wrote “Easy like Sunday morning” in the caption, and many followers believed the man in question to be Hartley. Later that day, Hartley posted a photo on his Instagram Stories with a caption reading: “Paisley like Sunday morning.” The similarities were not lost on fans who believed they were together that day.

Hartley has not publicly discussed his romance with Pernas or his divorce from Stause. Brand and reputation management expert Eric Schiffer told Screen Rant he believes the actor is trying to avoid backlash for his swift decision to leave Stause. “[Hartley] would rather have his face dragged across asphalt than sit with a journalist right now because he has to rationalize why he would exit his relationship through a text message,” he claimed.

Divorce fallout

Hartley isn’t the only one who has moved on from the divorce. Stause talked about her dating prospects during an interview with Entertainment Tonight, adding that several potential suitors have already slid into her DMs. “I have to say I have had a few, yes,” she revealed. “That has been a nice surprise. There’s a few [you might know], but I’m not going to tell you who.”

“I’m completely single and because of COVID, I haven’t done much mingling,” Stause added. “I’m excited to mingle. “[I’ve responded to suitors] in a polite way. I haven’t like gone and like . . . I haven’t taken the next step, no.”

According to her court docs, Stause is seeking spousal support. E! News reported that Hartley does not want to provide spousal support and requested his ex-wife pay for her own attorney fees.