A little more than five years after marrying his third wife, Sofia Pernas, This Is Us alum Justin Hartley opens up about the importance of protecting his marriage from others who may not have good intentions.
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During his appearance on the I’ve Never Said This Before podcast, Hartley spoke about how protective he is when it comes to Pernas and their relationship.
“I heard this from my stepdad where he said to me a long time ago, ‘You got to take care of your relationship and be very protective of who you surround yourself with and what relationships you surround yourself with,'” he explained.
Hartley further stated, “Because there will be people that are in your life right now that you think are your friends, and they simply cannot handle your relationship. They can’t handle it. It’s not necessarily sad but it is just true that when you have a relationship that you really care about [and] it could be a friendship, it could be with your mom or your dad or it could be with your dog.”
The actor also advised that when it comes to relationships, everyone has to be careful of other people getting involved. He noted that the problem isn’t always about a loved one “trying to sabotage” the relationship.
However, he did point out that the loved one might not know they are being harmful.
“They’re not bad people,” he clarified. “They just can’t handle it. And you don’t need to be hearing things like that. I’m not saying that you should be surrounded by sycophants and that’s healthy. But there’s certainly a difference between someone rooting for your love and rooting for your relationship vs. something who is jealous of what you have.”
The Actor Looks Back at Similar Situation That Made Him Want to Protect His Marriage More
Meanwhile, Hartley reflected on a similar situation he had experienced, which helped shape his opinion.
“I’ve certainly in my life been jealous before, no question,” he shared. “It’s never once serviced me in any way positively at all — ever — to be envious or anything like that. I now can look at someone and really be encouraged by that. … But if you don’t feel that way, there’s a difference between being competitive and being envious.”
The couple first met on the set of The Young and the Restless in 2015. They later got together following Hartley’s divorce from his second wife, Chrishell Stause.
Hartley and Pernas got married in 2021.
Before Stause, Hartley was married to Passions star Lindsay Korman. They share a daughter, Isabella.