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Grey’s Anatomy alum Patrick Dempsey covers the latest issue of PEOPLE and opens up about calling off his divorce from his makeup artist wife Jillian, and raising their three kids: daughter Tallula, 14, and 9-year-old twin sons Darby and Sullivan.

On calling off their divorce: “Our marriage was not something I was prepared to let go of. I didn’t feel like we had done all the work. And we both wanted to do that work. That’s where it started.”

On the “scary” potential end of his marriage: “It’s always destabilizing when you’re potentially breaking up a family or you have a big section of your life that’s ending.”

On the “very important” work done in couples counseling: “Everybody has their own path. Jill and I decided it was time to work on our issues and improve. We wanted to be role models for our kids like, okay, if you have differences, you can work them out.”

On pulling back from his passion for car racing in order to devote more time to his family: “You can only do one thing at a time and do it well. I [learned] to prioritize. Our union has to be the priority. I wasn’t prepared to give up on her and she wasn’t either. We both wanted to fight for it.” ”

On their reunion as a “new beginning”: “You’ve got to keep at it. You’ve got to communicate, and stay open and not get lazy. And not give up. And lots of sex!”

Dempsey’s latest film, Bridget Jones’s Baby, hits theaters September 16.