Sophia Bush has opened up about her romance with Ashlyn Harris.
The One Tree Hill alum has confirmed her relationship with the retired football star after months of speculation.
"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," Sophia told Glamour about finding love with Ashlyn after her 2023 divorce. "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."
The actress continued, "What I saw was a friend with her big, happy life. And now I know she thought the same thing about me."
The pair were rumoured to have started dating when their respective marriages ended in 2023, sparking backlash online.
"People looking in from the outside weren't privy to just how much time it took, how many painful conversations were had," Sophia explained. "A lot of effort was made to be graceful with other people's processing, their time and obligations, and their feelings."
She added, "What felt like seconds after I started to see what was in front of me, the online rumour mill began to spit in the ugliest ways."
Sophia noted that she received "violent threats" as a result of the rumours.
"There were blatant lies. Violent threats. There were the accusations of being a homewrecker," she told the publication. "The ones who said I'd left my ex because I suddenly realised I wanted to be with women - my partners have known what I'm into for as long as I have (so that's not it, y'all, sorry!)."
The actress was married to entrepreneur Grant Hughes for a year before filing for divorce in August last year. Meanwhile, Ashlyn was married to footballer Ali Krieger, with whom she has two children, before filing for divorce in September 2023.
Elsewhere in the interview, the John Tucker Must Die star shared that she identifies as queer.
"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," she said.
