TV legend Sophia Bush, best-known for starring in the 2000s TV series One Tree Hill, has made her red carpet debut with her girlfriend after coming out.
The actress spoke about about identifying as queer for the first time in a recent interview, saying that she felt as though she could finally ‘breathe’.
Sophia, 41, and football star Ashlyn Harris, 38, were spotted at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner together in Washington DC, which was also attended by stars including Scarlett Johansson, Colin Jost, Billy Porter and Caitlyn Jenner.
Marking their first time on a red carpet as a couple, Sophia and Ashlyn could been seen gazing into each other’s eyes while posing together for the photographers, looking beautifully besotted with one another.
Ashlyn played football for the US, as well as representing teams including Washington Spirit, Orlando Pride, and Gotham FC of the National Women’s Soccer League.
She announced her retirement from professional football in November 2022.
In a new personal essay, Sophia explained that while she 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’.
The former One Tree Hill star 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.’
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 and Ashlyn 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.
‘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.
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 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.
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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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