Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images
Like many a New York 20-something on TikTok, Sophia Bush appears to be in her lovergirl era. In a new essay penned for Glamour Thursday, the One Tree Hill actress opened up about her relationship with former U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team player Ashlyn Harris. Last year, the seemingly out-of-nowhere romance quickly became the subject of much speculation, as the rumor mill started spinning with cheating accusations left and right: Harris had filed for divorce from her teammate and now-estranged wife Ali Krieger in September, while Bush had split from husband Grant Hughes in August after just one year of marriage. Now, Bush not only denies those rumors (calling them “violent threats” and “blatant lies”), but insists that she fell in love with Harris under perfectly normal circumstances: “slowly and then suddenly all at once.”
“I don’t know how else to say it other than: I didn’t see it until I saw it,” the 41-year-old wrote. “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.”
While Bush reportedly first met Harris in 2019, she says they bonded over their mutually crumbling relationships at Cannes last summer during a week of “fancy speaking engagements.” In a circle of Los Angeles women going through similar hardships, the two deepened their friendship, sharing divorce memes and TikToks and sending “emo quotes from poets” back and forth. It wasn’t until their friends put two and two together that Bush realized Harris was more than just someone she leaned on to get through a breakup — a process that Bush says was “long and thoughtful and exhaustive,” regardless of whether or not it was shared on social media. She also clarified that she now identifies as “queer,” though she recognizes her sexuality mostly as a spectrum.
“Falling in love with her has sutured some of my own childhood wounds, and made me so much closer to my own mother,” Bush continued of her girlfriend. “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?”
All the best to these two, who seem remarkably happy together despite all the drama!
Laura Davis is an entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to Broadway, she offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
