Chicago P.D. Star Sophia Bush Has A History Of Short Marriages
Sophia Bush's relationship history includes more than one marriage that didn't reach the two-year mark. However, the "One Tree Hill" star's first failed union in 2005 didn't have her ready to run for the hills, as far away from the institution of marriage as possible. "I want to get married again and have kids, and even adopt," she told Cosmo Girl! after her divorce, according to a LiveJournal page about the actor.
Bush's relationship experiences have taught her to embrace the idea of Mr. Right Now. People change, situations change, and romantic partners sometimes reach the realization that they've grown apart. This constant flux makes the idea of everyone having a single soulmate out there rather absurd. In a 2017 Cosmopolitan essay about this concept, Bush shared that she's also learned that relationships that don't ultimately work out shouldn't necessarily be written off as complete failures. "A few months with the right person can be as great an experience as a decade-long union with someone else. When you take the pressure of The One off, you'll open yourself up to endless possibilities," she wrote.
Failed relationships can be teachable moments as well. After Bush's marriage to Chad Michael Murray ended, the "Chicago P.D." star was able to reflect on where her head was at during that time in her life and ascertain what went wrong. But lessons learned from one relationship don't always apply to others, and even marriages built on a years-long friendship can fall apart.
She felt pressured to marry Chad Michael Murray
Sophia Bush married Chad Michael Murray in April 2005, but the "One Tree Hill" co-stars kissed their wedded bliss goodbye a mere five months later. Rumors swirled that Murray had cheated on Bush with his "House of Wax" co-star Paris Hilton, who was dating Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter at the time. During an appearance on "On Air with Ryan Seacrest" (via TMZ), Carter claimed that the rumors were true, but Bush hasn't confirmed that they were related to the collapse of her marriage.
Bush later said that being co-stars with Murray complicated matters when he decided to pop the question. "It was not a thing I actually really wanted to do," she said on "Radio Andy." However, she shared that she felt pressure from people at work to make her relationship with Murray work, apparently because she ensured he didn't show up late on set.
Bush has also said that youthful naiveté played into her decision to get hitched, as she was 21 years old at the time, and Murray was 23.. "I think lots of people do stupid s**t before their prefrontal cortexes are fully formed, and they're not until they're 26. ... I literally didn't have a whole brain," Bush said on "Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum." She and Murray continued working together after their split, and on "Armchair Expert," Bush recalled how the show's producers exploited their divorce by referencing it in commercials for "One Tree Hill," saying, "It was really ugly."
The surprising timing of Sophia Bush's second divorce
It took Sophia Bush and entrepreneur Grant Hughes a decade after their first meeting to make a love connection. Per Vogue, that meeting happened in Nicaragua, where they were ringing in the New Year. A friendship developed, but they hadn't been in touch much when they reconnected during the pandemic. On "Podcrushed," Bush recalled seeing a post that Hughes had shared about a warehouse full of masks that frontline workers desperately needed. However, there wasn't any way to get them shipped out. Bush reached out to Hughes to let him know she had a connection that could help.
After FaceTiming for a while, Bush and Hughes realized that they wanted to be more than friends. After just four months of dating, they began making wedding plans and even enrolled in a couples' coaching class. "We're either going to go through with this thing and decide that we're each other's people six months from now, or we'll know we're not, and we'll be friends," she recalled telling their coach.
The couple married in Tulsa on June 11, 2022, and when Bush filed for divorce the following year, she listed June 27, 2023, as the date of separation. Two weeks prior, Bush had shared a since-deleted anniversary post in which she wrote of her marriage, "Best decision of my life." But an insider told Us Weekly that the exes ultimately realized that they should have gone with the friend option after those classes.