‘This Is Us’ Star Justin Hartley’s Estranged Wife Chrishell Reveals Cryptic Quote That May Explain Reason for Divorce

Chrishell Stause broke her silence on her separation from This Is Us star Justin Hartley with a cryptic quote on her social media. The Selling Sunset star took to Instagram Monday to allude at the actor filing for divorce in November. In her first post to social media since the filing, Stause shared a quote from Nishan Panwar that read: “It’s hard to watch people change right in front of you. But it’s even harder remembering who they used to be.”

The Days of Our Lives actress also updated her social media bio to take out the words “wife” and “stepmom” (Hartley shares 15-year-old daughter Isabella with his ex-wife Lindsay) after the filing.

One day after her post, reports surfaced Stause filed her own divorce papers in response to Hartley’s filing. She notably had a different date of separation. She listed Nov. 22 as the date of the end of the two-year marriage, while Hartley’s paperwork stated it as July 8.

Us Weekly reports the actress is seeking spousal support from Hartley and asking the actor to pay for her attorney’s fees. The actor had previously cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the legal separation, with the documents stating he does not believe he owes his estranged wife any money.

Hartley and Stause dated for four years before marrying in October 2017. The couple’s separations reportedly came as a surprise to his loved ones as they hosted a viewing party together for Hartley’s former co-star and Stause’s best friend Melissa Claire Egan.

Hartley has not addressed the split publicly.

A source recently told PEOPLE in a new report Stause was caught off guard by Hartley’s divorce filing.

“Chrishell is still reeling,” the insider said.

“Yes, they’d had some problems, but she certainly never thought he would just go and suddenly file for divorce, and not even try to save things,” they added. “He’s reached a new level of fame thanks to the show and he doesn’t want to close many doors right now, and that’s not necessarily the path Chrishell is looking to take. She thought babies would happen soon after they got married, but it just hasn’t worked out.”

The source told the publication the filing left Stause feeling like “Justin never took their marriage seriously at all.”

“Justin has already been married, and divorced, once before. But Chrishell had been in other serious relationships in the past, like with Matthew Morrison, and didn’t take them further because she was always adamant that when she got married, it would be forever — she was only going to do this once. It’s partly why she and Justin waited so long to get married: she wanted to be sure that when they said their vows, they meant them. And she did — she would have stayed forever,” the insider noted.

“She was his staunchest supporter and would’ve had his back through anything,” the source explains.