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B&B’s Rena Sofer Explains Why She Reunited With Her Ex-Husband (EXCLUSIVE)

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Following her 2017 divorce from television director Sanford Bookstaver, THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL’s Rena Sofer (Quinn) has found love again… with her ex-husband! You read that right. After ending their 14-year marriage, they are officially back together and newly engaged to be remarried, a fact that the actress acknowledges sounds like a storyline ripped straight out of Ridge and Brooke’s playbook. “Except there is no Bill,” she laughingly clarified to Soaps In Depth. “There was never another person, so it was never that issue. We just needed to figure it out.”

Sofer and Bookstaver had remained friends and co-parents (to daughter Avalon, 13) following their split, but latent sparks were reignited last fall.“He flew in from New York to be at my [December] birthday party for three hours, and then he flew back,” she recalled. “That was a big deal for me, because it kind of answered the question of, ‘Who’s going to have my back for the rest of my life?’ Here’s a guy who [was no longer obligated to] have my back anymore, and he still did!”

Though they had each attempted to move on following their divorce, that task proved easier said than done. “I tried to date, but I ended up just dating dogs more than anything,” joked the pup-loving actress. “I mean literal dogs, although I did date some ‘dogs,’ too!”

Having both come to the conclusion that the most important thing to each of them was still one another, the couple picked up pretty much where they’d left off. “We have not taken it slowly, even though we’ve tried to. That’s what happens when you’ve already been together for 18 years,” she said. “You’re like, ‘I know you! What are we waiting for?’ So we’re back together. He’s not my husband, but it feels too weird to call him my boyfriend, so I still call him my ex-husband, because I think it’s hilarious.”

Getting back to basics and figuring out who (and what) she loves over the past few years has led Sofer to discover something else that brings her great joy: woodworking! “When I got divorced and wasn’t working a lot over the past year and a half, I decided that I needed something for myself,” she explained. “I’ve always been the sort of handy person who can spend hours roaming through Home Depot, and I really liked the idea of working with wood. I just needed to find someone who could teach me.”

The actress signed up for classes at a local workshop, where she continues to drop in frequently to make beautiful artisanal cutting boards and wooden utensils. “It makes me happy to be creative,” she confided. “You’re making it the way people have made these things forever, and that’s interesting and meaningful to me.”

Sofer also found meaning in her life by hosting some houseguests … of the four-legged variety! Already the loving owner of pooches Iggy, Alpha and Mega, Sofer agreed to foster a pregnant dog late last year that was found on the streets. “I thought it would be the coolest thing ever, to watch a dog give birth and play with the puppies and take care of them until they could be given away,” she said.

Though her daughter joked that Sofer would adopt all of the puppies herself, the actress managed to limit herself to keeping just one, whom she named Marceline. The rest of the pups (including the mother) were given happy homes with Sofer’s friends and family members. Though having a house filled with energetic puppies required effort and patience, Sofer is grateful she was able to help. “The world can seem so cruel and unfixable to me,” she said. “It makes me feel powerless sometimes, but I realized all I can do is try to help a small corner of the world — my corner — and hope that light can expand a little bit.” Comic-strip creator Charles M. Schulz may have coined the phrase “Happiness is a warm puppy,” but Sofer’s living proof that it’s actually quite true!

For more on your favorite B&B stars, keep reading the CBS edition of Soaps In Depth magazine.

This story originally appeared in our print magazine

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