After years of struggling with diets and depression, This Is Us star Chrissy Metz looks back on her journey to self-acceptance, fame, and becoming a role model for body positivity. Subscribe now for the inside story — only in PEOPLE!
Chrissy Metz is ready to share her love with the world.
After debuting her boyfriend of four months, This Is Us cameraman Josh Stancil, on Jan. 28, the actress is opening up to PEOPLE exclusively for this week’s issue about their romance.
“He’s very mature,” she shares of Stancil, 40. “We’re in a very healthy relationship.”
Metz, 36, explains that she initially kept mum about Stancil’s identity because “he’s his own person outside of being a boyfriend of mine.” She adds that they consciously discussed the timing on when they would take their relationship public.
Before stepping out together at Entertainment Weekly’s pre-SAG Awards party, says Metz, “We [would] communicate: ‘Are you okay that you’re not coming to this event? This is why,’ and he was like, ‘Yes, of course.’ He couldn’t be more understanding [of my lifestyle right now].”
- Watch People Cover Story: Chrissy Metz on the People/Entertainment Weekly Network (PEN). Go to people.com/PEN or download the app on your favorite device.
Asked whether Stancil fits into her “type,” Metz shares that “it’s really mostly about energy — Do I get on with someone? Because looks are going to fade. If I can’t get along with somebody and have a friend, then what’s the point?”
Even before Metz became a fan-favorite on NBC’s smash his drama thanks to her nuanced, empathetic portrayal of Kate Pearson, who struggles to balance being in a new relationship while losing weight and gaining self-confidence, Metz told PEOPLE last October that she’s “never had issues dating.”
“It’s one of those things where if you’re secure and you’re happy mostly, you find really wonderful people who come into your life,” she said.
And she was already giving hints of her growing affection for Stancil, saying, “It wasn’t like [he] came out of the woodwork just because I’m on the show. It was just organic, and I’m grateful for that.”
- For more from Chrissy Metz on how her confidence led to the role of a lifetime, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday
For this week’s story, Metz shed more light on how working with her beau fits into the kind of love story she envisions for herself.
“For me, I think meeting organically and seeing someone in their element [is important],” she shares. “I want a cute story like that.”
This Is Us airs Tuesdays (9 p.m. ET) on NBC.
