One Tree Hill star Sophia Bush can ‘finally breathe’ after coming out as queer-Josie Copson-Entertainment – Metro

Sophia Bush has spoken candidly in the personal essay (Picture: Caitlin Brody/Glamour)

Sophia Bush has spoken about identifying as queer for the first time.

Although the One Tree Hill star hates the notion that we still have to ‘come out’ in 2024, she felt it was important when we’re ‘seeing the most aggressive attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community in modern history’. 

In a personal essay, she has detailed her journey to reach this point and said previous partners have always been aware of ‘what I’m into’.

In Glamour, she wrote: ‘I think I’ve always known that my sexuality exists on a spectrum. Right now I think the word that best defines it is queer. I can’t say it without smiling, actually.’

‘I finally feel like I can breathe,’ she added later.

‘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. I hadn’t realised how heavy it was until I finally just put it down.’

Sophia wrote a personal essay for Glamour (Picture: Caitlin Brody/Glamour)

The John Tucker Must Die and Chicago P.D. actress split from husband Grant Hughes after 13 months of marriage in 2023 and has now found love with former football player Ashlyn Harris.

Sophia, 41, and Ashlyn, 38, originally met in 2019 but became closer as they both navigated their divorces. Ashlyn split from wife Ali Krieger last year – the pair share two children.

‘I was separated and preparing to file for divorce, and groups of women in my life started opening up about issues they were going through in their own homes,’ Sophia explained.

Grant and Sophie were married for 13 months (Picture: Leigh Vogel/Getty Images)

‘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.’

Initially, other people pointed out that they shared similarities and would often finish each other’s sentences. After Sophia had embarked on multiple therapy sessions and following some gentle encouragement from loved ones she asked Ashlyn on a ‘non-friend-group hang’.

Their first ‘date’ lasted four and a half hours, which felt ‘surreal’. ‘For a sparkly moment I felt like maybe the universe had been conspiring for me,’ she shared.

Ashlyn, Eric McCormack and Sophia at the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s 32nd Annual Academy Awards Viewing Party in March (Picture: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Elton John AIDS Foundation)

Elsewhere in the essay, Sophia wrote about how she almost called off her wedding and decided to accept a job playing Lauren in 2:22 A Ghost Story to get some space after the nuptials, which took her from Los Angeles to London.

The first months of the marriage were particularly tough as Sophia was in the ‘depths and heartbreak of the fertility process’. She endured endless ultrasounds, hormone shots, and blood draws during that time.

‘As I lost track of how many examination tables I had lain on alone, I felt something in me seismically shift. Six months into that journey, I think I knew deep down that I absolutely had made a mistake,’ she candidly revealed.

Sophia starred on One Tree Hill from 2003 until 2012 (Picture: Theo Wargo/WireImage)

Sophia was previously married to One Tree Hill co-star Chad Michael Murray, and their 2005 marriage lasted five months.

Years later she said: ‘We were two stupid kids who had no business being in a relationship in the first place. To all the other co-stars who’ve worked it out, more power to you.’

For over a decade, Sophia has devoted her life to activism focusing on getting young people to vote in elections, gay rights, and supporting the Me Too movement. 

She also hosts the podcast Drama Queens with Hilarie Burton and Bethany Joy Lenz, who played Peyton Sawyer and Hayley James-Scott in One Tree Hill. In each episode, they analyse each episode of their hit show one by one and Sophia, who found fame as Brooke Davis, candidly reveals behind-the-scenes details.

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