April 25 (UPI) — Sophia Bush says she “didn’t expect to find love” with her girlfriend, Ashlyn Harris.
The 41-year-old actress discussed Harris, a retired professional soccer player, and addressed criticism of their relationship in a new interview with Glamour magazine.
Bush and Harris were first linked in fall 2023 following Bush’s split from her husband, Grant Hughes, and Harris’ divorce from her wife, Ali Krieger.
In the Glamour cover story, Bush recalled how she bonded with Harris and a group of other women amid her split from Hughes.
“For those of us who had no solution in sight or Hail Marys left, having this community changed everything. We really wrapped one another up in support. It was tragic and hard. But it was also beautiful,” the star said.
“I didn’t expect to find love in this support system. I don’t know how else to say it other than: I didn’t see it until I saw it,” she added. “And I think it’s very easy not to see something that’s been in front of your face for a long time when you’d never looked at it as an option and you had never been looked at as an option. What I saw was a friend with her big, happy life. And now I know she thought the same thing about me.”
Bush eventually asked Harris out on a date, which ended up being a “four and a half hours long” meal and “one of the most surreal experiences” of her life. As the pair grew closer, “there was a lot that quickly turned ugly” as others reacted to their relationship.
“What felt like seconds after I started to see what was in front of me, the online rumor mill began to spit in the ugliest ways. There were blatant lies. Violent threats. There were accusations of being a home-wrecker,” Bush said.
“The idea that I left my marriage based on some hysterical rendezvous — that, to be crystal-clear, never happened — rather than having taken over a year to do the most soul crushing work of my life? … It feels brutal,” she added.
Today, Bush is experiencing “real joy” and is ready to come out, saying, “I think the word that best defines [my sexuality] is queer.”
“I finally feel like I can breathe,” the actress said. “I don’t think I can explain how profound that is. I feel like I was wearing a weighted vest for who knows how long.”
“It is so, so scary to do the brave thing, to say, ‘I’m just not happy.’ Especially if you’re in a partnership and you have to say it first,” she added. “But if you do it, you get the chance to be happy. To find your joy.”
Bush is known for playing Brooke Davis on One Tree Hill and Erin Lindsay on Chicago P.D. She presently co-hosts the Drama Queens podcast with her former One Tree Hill co-stars Hilarie Burton Morgan and Bethany Joy Lenz.
