Katie Cassidy Talks Picking Herself Up and Dating Again Post-Divorce: 'I Didn't Have a Choice'

Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Katie Cassidy

Former Arrow star Katie Cassidy is embracing a new chapter of life after divorcing her ex-husband, Matthew Rogers.

"I didn't have a choice," the 35-year-old told PEOPLE at the Taste of the Future Luncheon in Beverly Hills on March 24. "I was on a show, living in Vancouver until November 2019. I was married and that show lasted for two years."

First spotted publicly together in December 2016, Cassidy and Rogers tied the knot in December 2017. The duo later celebrated with a wedding ceremony in Sunset Key, Florida the following year.

However, their marriage was short-lived, with the upcoming Agent Game actress filing for divorce in January 2020, citing irreconcilable differences. The exes then finalized their divorce in March 2021.

Though she tried to keep her spirits up, Cassidy — who is the daughter of the late Partridge Family star David Cassidy — admitted that going through a split during the COVID-19 pandemic was especially hard to navigate.

"January 2020, I moved back to L.A., filed for divorce and then we were all in lockdown for like a year," she recalled. "L.A. is where I was raised, it's where I live and so I didn't have a choice. I was like, 'Okay, got to pick yourself up by your bootstraps sometimes.'"

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After taking some time to heal her broken heart, and as restrictions from the pandemic slowly get lifted, Cassidy is now ready to find her perfect match.

"I have been dating, yes," Cassidy revealed. "It's fun. It was weird during the pandemic, but also again, I think I needed that pause and reset to heal."

"I think if I'm supposed to meet someone, I'll meet them naturally, organically," she continued. "The way the world, [the] universe wants it to be."

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She also hopes others can learn from her breakup in order to find peace in their own lives and move on with their next chapters, just as she's done.

"I choose happiness," said Cassidy, who just released a new NFT with former NBA star Metta World Peace. "I'm sure people place past judgment, but they don't know what I've gone through and I don't know what they've gone through."

"I think people just should be happy and so I encourage everyone — men, women — there's a lot of people who are stuck in relationships when they're not happy because they don't like the idea or the look of what divorce is," she continued. "It's okay. Everyone should just choose happiness."