When I was writing about Sophia Bush and Grant Hughes’ Tulsa wedding, it occurred to me that it completely topped her first wedding and five-month marriage to costar Chad Michael Murray. It topped it so much that the two were incomparable. Sophia and Grant’s wedding was beautiful, meaningfully showcased civil rights justice in a historic city, and was featured in Vogue. But I didn’t want to say anything about her long-ago ex on a post about her lovely wedding! But, Sophia talked about Chad on a recent episode of her One Tree Hill recap podcast with costars Hilarie Burton and Bethany Joy Lenz. It came up in the context of the show and how Sophia continued to work with Chad for years after their divorce.
While covering season 3, episode 9 — “How a Resurrection Really Feels” — which aired in December 2005, on their “Drama Queens” podcast in July 2022, Bethany Joy Lenz praised Bush for her performance.
“Not for nothing, you were going through a breakup with the person that you were playing a romance opposite of. And regardless of what all those circumstances were, that’s incredibly difficult — emotionally to be able to be vulnerable and be there in that moment,” Lenz told Bush and Hilarie Burton. “There’s lots of actors who have done that — who’ve done movies and TV shows and things, they date their costar or whatever, it doesn’t work out. But the fact that you were able to just be that raw and open and vulnerable, it’s a real credit to you as an artist. You put your art in front of everybody and just were like, ‘Look, this is it. I’m just sharing my heart and here we are.’ I thought it was really beautiful.”
The Chicago P.D. alum made it clear that she was never going to let any personal drama get in the way of the show.
“People can call it whatever they want. They can say it’s strength, they can say it’s pride, they can say its professionalism — you can put a positive or a negative skew on it,” she responded to her former castmates. “But I was always going to put Brooke Davis ahead of everybody and everything else. Nothing mattered to me but being honest for her.”
Bush went on to acknowledge why fans may have liked the Brooke and Lucas pairing. “As teenagers, they got to be silly and our show needed a little bit of, like, silliness and discovery. It couldn’t all be, like, marriage and death,” the actress said.
Last year Sophia said she wasn’t allowed to talk about Chad anymore because he and his wife got all huffy last time it came up, but I guess she felt okay about doing so because it was in the context of the show and more about her approach to the acting than him. I think what she says here is fair/neutral and she’s always the bigger person when it comes to him (and just a good person in general). I watched OTH when it aired and followed the gossip about their short marriage and divorce. And I remember being completely amazed that they continued to work so closely together after they split. They weren’t just on the same show, they were a recently and contentiously divorced couple playing a couple in love. Like, they had to do sex scenes during/after their divorce! As Sophia says in the article, I thought then and now that it was strength, professionalism, and maturity for her to be able to put her personal feelings aside to honestly embody the character. Though at another point, Sophia said that the producers would write the actors’ personal lives into the show to garner interest and ratings, so whether the producers were being true to the characters is another story. Anyway, Sophia and Grant seem really happy and in love, and I think their relationship timeline and the fact that she waited 16 years to marry again bodes well for them.
Photos credit: Avalon.red and via Instagram
Funny story. Chad Michael Murray moved in next door to me recently, in Canada. Not to be mean, but is he in any way still relevant?
Lol Melissa he really is not.
Not really. He was on both seasons of Agent Carter (and was genuinely good in the role!) but it was cancelled after season 2. I haven’t heard of him being in anything since.
He’s super busy but it’s straight to video/VOD and hallmark movies. But he’s been really prolific in them the last few years. Relevant? Not to me. But those audiences have a huge fan base. It’s just niche.
is he nice? i had met him once, and he was a huge douchebag
lol as a teenage fan i was crushed back then and never watched his show again
As I mentioned in another comment, my friend is a huge Chad Michael Murray fan. I told her he gave off douche vibes to me, and she thinks I am crazy. Care to share your story? I am sorry you had a negative experience; that can be heartbreaking when you are crushing.
He is not nice. I could say more but I won’t.
Although it is mildly emarrassing, Hallmark Movies are one of my guilty pleasures. It started with just the Christmas ones; over the Covid lockdown I started watching them all and now I am a fangirl of sorts. I attended Christmas Con (Hallmark Christmas Convention) last December and he was supposed to be one of the main stars. His photo ops sold out pretty fast; people were super excited to see him. I heard negative things. I heard he was short with people and not very personable (in years past). Anyway he cancelled a month or more out and left a lot of people disappointed (I was not one of them, but my friend that traveled with me was crushed). Most of the Hallmark Actors were super gracious & friendly-they know their bread & butter. The ones who seemed less enthusiastic and more annoyed? The former child/teen stars. To act holier-than-thou at a Hallmark Christmas Convention seemed silly to me. Danica McKellar was one of the worst ones. Anyway that is his ‘relevance’ for now, I think-and he seems to think it still keeps him fame-adjacent. Not for nothing, but it looks like many of the actors from that group who are ‘that way’ are moving over to the (even less inclusive, as Hallmark works to TRY and diversify a bit) GAC Network. Candace Cameron just moved over there too. CMM has been all over GAC since they launched. We are certainly an easily-mockable crew, but fans of those cheesy movies keep those actors working, and some of them even feel their 15 minutes have been extended! I am curious how they are as neighbors…
Wasn’t he a cult leader on Riverdale recently? I know he had a seasonal arc on some show that is fairly popular.
How come chad hardly gets ask about his divorce from Sophia?
I remember at the time they seemed really in love and I was such a oth fan. It was a bit heartbreaking when they announced their divorce.
My guess is that he’s not as relevant as Sophia remains. I think she stays busy with work and he does not.
Sophia is stunning and has managed to become even more gorgeous in the years since she ditched CMM. She is such a class act.
I think she is so pretty too! It’s great to see her so happy.
I don’t think she’s really talking about him personally so much here, as her own take on working with someone through a breakup. Hopefully his current wife doesn’t have a hissy fit again.
Well, his wife is also my neighbour, so I can have a word with her if she doesn’t chill tf out 🙂
I used to wait on both of them, frequently, when they worked on OTH. Sometimes separate, sometimes together. She was lovely as you imagine, pleasant, wanted to take pictures, sign autographs, polite, humble. I saw her on a plane once where she engaged with this mother of a fan that was talking her ear off and off and off and she was smiling (truly the patient of a saint) and kept saying “thank you” for supporting the show.
Then there’s Chad. His name suits him. Rude, full of himself, expected all gave nothing, walked around this small beach town with his hat pulled down a la Leo but with his nose literally turned up. I shit you not I heard him say “Don’t you know who I am”. Twice.
@Laura and I must live near each other…and I absolutely second all of the things she’s saying. Major douchecanoe.