Love moves fast in Hollywood, and Pretty Little Liars star Janel Parrish is living proof. Just weeks after filing for divorce from her husband of seven years, the actress and Hallmark regular is showering affection on her new partner—Dancing With the Stars pro Sasha Farber—in the most public way possible.
On Saturday, May 9, Parrish posted a heartfelt birthday tribute to Farber on his 42nd birthday, sharing loved-up photos and gushing about how he“brings joy and light to everyone who meets you.”It’s the kind of declaration that reads like the early bloom of new love—enthusiastic, unguarded, and seemingly unbothered by the timing. For context, Parrish and her estranged husband Chris Long, 41, only finalized their divorce filing on April 28, meaning the split was still fresh when she and Farber began going public with their relationship.
The pair’s connection isn’t entirely new, though. They first crossed paths in 2014 when Parrish competed on Dancing With the Stars season 19 with pro Val Chmerkovskiy, and Farber was part of the troupe that year. But their romantic spark apparently ignited last month as Parrish’s marriage unraveled. By April 27, Farber was captioning PDA-filled photos with“April has been amazing ❤️🌹,”and the couple has continued to share glimpses of their relationship across social media ever since—from dinner dates to dancing videos.
For Parrish, the past couple of months have been a whirlwind. In her April 10 statement announcing the split, she emphasized that“there is still so much love and respect”between her and Long, describing their decade together as“beautiful.”Yet she’s wasted little time moving forward. Parrish and Long agreed on spousal support, property division, and legal fees as part of their divorce settlement, keeping things amicable on paper at least.
Farber’s own romantic history includes a previous marriage to fellow DWTS pro Emma Slater from 2018 to 2023. The pair remain close friends—Slater told Us Weekly in 2024 that Farber is“somebody who’s in my life forever”and called him“the best person, just absolutely amazing.”Slater has since moved on with fellow DWTS star Alan Bersten. So there’s a theme here: the Dancing With the Stars universe seems to be a tight-knit ecosystem where relationships form, dissolve, and transform, all while the world watches via social media.
What’s striking about Parrish and Farber’s rapid public courtship isn’t that they’ve found each other—life happens, people move on. It’s the speed and visibility of it all. A marriage of seven years ends in April, and by May, there’s full-throttle celebration of a brand-new romance. Whether you see that as refreshingly honest or a bit much probably depends on your take on modern celebrity romance.
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.