Sophia Bush gets by with a little help from her friends.
After the actress split from ex-husband Grant Hughes last year, one of her friends suggested she might not “like men.”
The “O.C.” alum, 41, detailed the “aha moment” on Wednesday’s episode of her “Work in Progress” podcast.
“One of of my best friends looked at me and was like, ‘I gotta say, that was just painful to watch, and I’m so glad you’re getting out of it,’” she recalled of ending her marriage in 2023.
The pal went on to say that the entrepreneur, 42, whom Bush wed in June 2022, was “not the right person for her” before noting, “Also, I don’t actually think you like men.”
Prior to the epiphany, Bush had fallen “in love with” a “beautiful French exchange student” in her teens.
The “Chicago P.D.” alum, however, later felt that she could not identify as bisexual as she primarily got involved with men — with her star-studded dating history including Chad Michael Murray, James Lafferty and more male co-stars.
Then, Bush had a “revolutionary f–king idea” about her sexuality.
“The queer community has been my home and is the home of my whole family since I was old enough to understand,” she said. “Uncle Tony had a boyfriend and not a girlfriend.
“I would never want to hurt the people I care the most about who’ve been in this fight for liberation for so long. [I told myself I was] gonna get out of the way,” the “Good Sam” star continued. “And then, it was like, ‘Well, maybe I don’t have to get out of the way. Maybe I just get to like who I like.’”
Page Six confirmed in October 2023 that Bush is dating professional soccer player Ashlyn Harris following the athlete’s divorce from Ali Krieger.
The “Drama Queens” co-host clarified in an essay for Glamour magazine six months later that she now identifies as queer.
“I can’t say it without smiling, actually. And that feels pretty great,” she gushed in the April interview, noting that her “sexuality exists on a spectrum.”
“Proud” Harris shared her support for her partner via Instagram Stories at the time.
The couple made their red carpet debut in April — and recently shut down engagement rumors fueled by May PDA pictures with Bush’s left hand hidden.
After telling her followers she had “no ‘news’” to share last month, Bush added, “I get that it’s new for y’all to see me so happy and so embodied. It’s new for me too. How lucky am I?”
