Justin Hartley's Age Gap With His Third Wife Has Generated A Lot Of Buzz

With three marriages under his belt, Justin Hartley is no stranger to picking a wife. He first met his current wife, Sofia Pernas, while acting together on "The Young and the Restless" in 2015. At the time, he was still married to Chrishell Stause, who was also part of the show's cast. Hartley and Pernas confirmed they were dating at the beginning of 2020, but his divorce from Strause was not finalized until 2021. The pair tied the knot immediately after in 2021 despite their staggering 13-year age gap. 

During a July 2026 episode of the "I Am An Actor" podcast, Hartley joked about wanting to marry Pernas right away. "I was like, 'Marry me,'" he said. "'You're clean too? Marry me. Yeah, and we will work it out from there.'" In 2024, he raved about their age-gap marriage. "Every night's a date night," Hartley told People. "I'm having the time of my life with her, it's wonderful." Their age difference also hasn't gone unnoticed by fans. After Pernas appeared alongside Hartley on "Tracker," a Redditor wrote, "Still can't believe they're almost 15 years apart." Another thought their age gap seemed to go in the other direction, writing, "She's very pretty but I would have pegged her for mid to late 40s and him late 30s."

According to Hartley, the third time's the charm when it comes to finding the perfect wife. "I think you want to believe ... that everyone gets to a point where they meet their soulmate. ... It's unfortunate that, I think, a lot of people don't, and that's sad," Hartley said on the "I've Never Said This Before" podcast. "But when you do have it, man, you got to hold on to it." He also said of Pernas, "She's everything. She's fantastic." With everyone wanting to know all about the real-life partners of the cast of "Tracker," online criticism of their marriage continues.

Given the complete timeline of Justin Hartley's love life, many online were quick to criticize the problematic dating history that has led him to his third marriage. "It's been years, I'm still not over how he handled his divorce and everything after that," wrote a Reddit user who started a 2024 thread to discuss the "This Is Us" star and his shady love life. Many fans expressed their belief that Hartley had cheated or left Chrishell Stause for Sofia Pernas. "He definitely left Chrishell for that younger woman he is [with] now, hence why she alluded that it was a relief when she found out about them because it finally gave her a 'reason' behind the divorce. So I guess he wasn't man enough to tell her the truth about why he's leaving her via text either," a Reddit user speculated. 

Others were quick to point out that this behavior was a pattern, with one Redditor using something Hartley said about Lindsay Korman-Hartley as an example. "I don't know what went on in his and Chrisell's marriage, but I saw with my own eyes him putting down the mother of his daughter with his first wife, Lindsay Hartley, on the Chelsea Handler Show," they wrote. "So mean and unnecessary. What good man does that?"

With the rarely known details about Hartley that make him the target of online controversy, his stepdad stepped in to offer him some advice. "He said, 'You've got to take care of your relationship and be very protective of who you surround yourself with. ... There will be people in your life that you think are your friends, and they simply cannot handle your relationship,'" Hartley said on the "I've Never Said This Before" podcast. "It's a strange thing, but it's true."