Sophia Bush reveals friend’s comment that led to an ‘aha’ moment about her sexuality

Sophia Bush reflects on an “aha” moment regarding her sexuality that came after her recent breakup.

The “One Tree Hill” actress came out as queer in an essay for Glamour magazine in April 2024 and spent the entire Pride Month reflecting on that decision and why it was all “worth it.”

Now she says it was an honest comment from a friend that prompted her to look back at her relationship with her sexual identity.

“After my last breakup, one of my best friends looked at me and said, ‘I have to say, that was just painful to watch, and I’m so glad you’re getting out of there. But not only do I think he wasn’t the right guy for you, but I also think you’re not actually into men,'” Bush said on the June 27 episode of her podcast “Work in Progress.”

Bush is currently dating 38-year-old former U.S. women’s national soccer team player Ashlyn Harris. She married entrepreneur Grant Hughes in 2022 before the actor filed for divorce in August 2023.

Her friend’s comment after the breakup led to an “aha moment” and Bush looked back on her previous feelings with different eyes.

“I thought, ‘Oh, maybe the drama when I fell in love with this beautiful French exchange student at 16 wasn’t because she was a girl, it was because she was living in France, and my parents were like, ‘This feels irrational and really is like a trap that will break your heart,'” she said.

She also recalled identifying as bisexual until she was 25 – and why she stopped. She said friends who she believes “meaned well” told her: “You mostly dated men. You can’t say you’re bi.”

At the time, she felt like she needed to “avoid” the LGBTQ+ community. But after her friend’s comment, she realized, “Maybe I can just like who I like.”

Bush kicked off Pride Month with a post on June 2.

“You are perfect. No matter how long it takes, you will find your people,” she wrote in her post. “They will help you find more and more of yourself. It’s worth it. You are worth it.”

In her essay for Glamour, Bush reflected on the idea of ​​“coming out.”

“I hate the idea come out in 2024,” she wrote at the time. “But I am deeply aware that we are having this conversation in a year when we are witnessing the most aggressive attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community in modern history.”

The 41-year-old actress went on to talk about her feelings of “safety, respect and love” in the queer community, adding that she feels she has always been aware that her “sexuality exists on a spectrum.”

“At the moment I think the word that best describes it is gay”, She added. “I can’t really say it without smiling. And that feels pretty good.”

In the essay she also talked about her relationship with the goalkeeper.

“It really took other people in our safe bubble of support to show me how we finish each other’s sentences or are deeply affected by the same things,” Bush wrote. “When you’re so deep in the trenches of hardship — and the added burden of having to go through it on a public stage — it can be hard to see anything other than what’s right in front of you.”

The couple have since been photographed side by side at various events, including Elton John’s Oscar party in March and the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com.