Actor Sophia Bush is opening up about her relationship with former American soccer player Ashlyn Harris in an essay in which Bush came out as queer.
Writing for Glamour, the "One Tree Hill" star, 41, offered insight into her relationship while sharing details about her marriage to Grant Hughes. Bush admitted she got cold feet before marrying Hughes in July 2022.
"In April of 2022 I was close to calling off my wedding. Instead of running away, I doubled down on being a model wife," she wrote.
And while they "threw one of the greatest wedding weekends ever," the year that followed was challenging. Bush wrote that, while she kept trying to convince herself that "relationships are hard" and "marriage takes compromise," she found herself reassessing their relationship after experiencing the "heartbreak of the fertility process."
"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 wrote.
Bush said that the realization prompted her to accept a role in London's West End, but she had to withdraw later due to illness.
Upon returning to Los Angeles last summer, Bush said she found support among a group of women experiencing similar relationship challenges. One of them was Harris, whom Bush had known for four years prior and was going through a separation from her wife and former teammate, Ali Krieger.
In her essay, Bush described "falling in love" with Harris.
"I sort of hate the notion of having to come out in 2024. But I'm deeply aware that we are having this conversation in a year when we're seeing the most aggressive attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community in modern history," she wrote.
"There were more than 500 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills proposed in state legislatures in 2023, so for that reason I want to give the act of coming out the respect and honor it deserves. I've experienced so much safety, respect, and love in the queer community, as an ally all of my life, that, as I came into myself, I already felt it was my home.
"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. And that feels pretty great."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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