'This Is Us' star Justin Hartley on marriage to Sofia Pernas: 'It's incredible when you're not forcing things'

Before Justin Hartley was Kevin Pearson on This Is Us, he was Adam Newman on The Young and the Restless, where he co-starred with Sofia Pernas, his now-wife, from 2015-16.

“You meet in different capacities," Hartley told Haute Living for a new profile. "We didn’t work together that closely, and we didn’t work together that long. 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. 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."

At the time, Hartley was dating Chrishell Stause since 2014. They were engaged by 2016 and married in October 2017 before filing for divorce in 2019.

Hartley, 44, and Pernas, 32, married earlier this year.

"We got married in March, and we are so happy!" Hartley added to Haute. "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," he continued. "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."

Hartley also shares a 17-year-old daughter, Isabella, with former Passions co-star Lindsay Korman-Hartley, whom he was married to from 2004-12.