‘This Is Us’: The Funny Way Justin Hartley Gets Recognized on the Street
Justin Hartley is just one of those guys – you can’t help but love him. The 42-year-old star of This Is Us has endeared fans everywhere with his charming personality and effortless smile.
With such a charismatic personality, it’s natural that fans are going to approach him to say hello. And sometimes, the results are pure entertainment.
He gets recognized everywhere
Not surprisingly, Hartley gets recognized wherever he goes. But it’s not just fans of This Is Us that come up to him, Hartley says that he’ll have fans from all of his past shows approach him.
He once told Glamour:
“It’s interesting because I’ll be out, and someone will say, ‘I just loved you on Passions! Did you just quit acting after that?’ [Laughs] I don’t know what to say so sometimes I’ll just say yes. Some people will say Young and the Restless, Smallville, Revenge…it just depends what they’ve seen.”
Hartley got his start on Passions playing a handsome young man from the town’s richest family. It was here where he met his first wife, Lindsay Korman. Hartley and Korman had one child together before divorcing in 2012.
In 2017, Hartley married actress Chrishell Stause. Stause, who also got her start on soap operas and now stars on the series Selling Sunset, says she loves that fans love her husband so much, telling Us Weekly, “…I get a kick out of when people see how great he is. I see it as a positive because he really is…” But Stause says that she’s her husband’s biggest fan. She says because she’s a fan, she will post on social media about him and do things like “Man crush Monday.”
Not all fan interactions go as planned
Hartley has had a few uncomfortable fan interactions over the years. Last year, Hartley described a run-in he had with a fan while he was attending the Super Bowl. Hartley said that as he was walking into the venue, the fan said, “My wife thinks your really handsome.” Not sure how to respond, Hartley told the man, “Tell your wife I said thank you.”
But apparently, the man was as much of a fan as his wife was because he turned around and called Hartley a not so nice name, saying, “Well I think your an [expletive].” Hartley responded, “Well buddy, I don’t know you.” To which the man replied, “Yeah, but I got to sit there and listen to her say that.”
Hartley said that he wasn’t exactly sure how things were going to work out for a while. He kind of hesitated to reply because he didn’t know how things were going to turn out. But ultimately all was well and Hartley says that most of the rest of his fan encounters have been really great.
He was once mistaken for Ryan Reynolds
Sometimes fans love Hartley when they don’t even know who he is. Hartley appeared on Live with Kelly and Ryan recently and recounted an experience with a fan at a charity event. Hartley says that a fan approached him and told him how much she loved him. It didn’t take long before Hartley realized that this woman thought he was someone else – Ryan Reynolds to be exact.
The This Is Us star says that he didn’t want to disappoint this fan so he just kind of played along. He didn’t confirm that he was indeed Reynolds, but he didn’t stop her from thinking it either.
As the night wound down, Hartley decided it was a good idea to sneak out so that the fan didn’t feel awkward. But as he left, he realized the jig was up. He told Ryan and Kelly that her friend must have told her who he was because as he walked out the door, the woman just stared him down.
