Actress Sophie Bush has come out as queer and has confirmed a new relationship.
After a whirlwind marriage with her ex-husband that subsequently ended in summer of last year, fans were shocked to discover that by fall, the star had embarked on a relationship with a woman.
In a new essay written for Glamour’s April cover story, the star – who was best known for her role on One Tree Hill – delved into the trials and tribulations of navigating one’s identity and how that came to influence aspects of her life.
She started off by penning how she was close to calling off her wedding.
“In April of 2022, I was close to calling off my wedding,” she started. “Instead of running away, I doubled down on being a model wife.”
However, things seemingly took a turn after her then-husband decided to dedicate an anniversary post to her on social media.
“When I saw it, I felt the blood drain from my face,” she wrote. “Fans and friends were telling me how exciting this milestone was and how happy I looked. I felt nothing.”
But despite this overwhelming void, Bush felt the external pressure to follow through with her commitment, even though things had been difficult at home.
“I felt mounting pressure from strangers online waiting for me to post something – what a strange part of public life to have to navigate – so I sat myself down and chose a picture,” she continued, also adding that after writing a “nice story”, she published the post and then went to throw up.
She then went on a journey of self-discovery, acknowledging a group of women who were also opening up about their home lives, including her now partner American soccer player, Ashlyn Harris.
“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 said in the lengthy essay. “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,” she added.
The pair opened up about their feelings and ended up starting a relationship.
“A lot of effort was made to be graceful with other people’s processing, their time and obligations, and their feelings. 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,” Bush explained, referring to the reports that she and Harris had started seeing each other while they were still engaged in their previous relationships.
“There were blatant lies. Violent threats. There were the accusations of being a home wrecker,” she recalled. “The ones who said I’d left my ex because I suddenly realized I wanted to be with women – my partners have known what I’m into for as long as I have (so that’s not it, y’all, sorry!).”
She then went on to state that she was totally over trying to defend herself; she was queer and people were just going to have to accept that.
“Falling in love with her has sutured some of my own childhood wounds, and made me so much closer to my own mother,” she concluded. “Seeing Ashlyn choose to not simply survive, but thrive, for her babies has been the most beautiful thing I’ve ever witnessed a friend do. And now I get to love her. How lucky am I?”
We’re glad to see Bush living her truth!
