Sophia Bush Reveals Details About Calling off Wedding to Grant Hughes in 2022

Sophia Bush knew about her marriage Grant Hughes wasn’t right before I walked down the aisle.

“In April 2022 I was close to canceling my wedding. Instead of running away, I resolved to be an exemplary wife,” Bush, 41, wrote for shine magazine in a cover story published Thursday, April 25. “In 2023, my now ex-husband posted a beautiful tribute on Instagram for our first anniversary. When I saw it, I felt the blood drain from my face.”

While the comments section was full of congratulatory messages, Bush said she “didn’t feel anything” when she saw the post.

“It wasn’t easy at home, but everyone says marriage is hard, right? As the day progressed, I felt the pressure mounting from strangers on the internet waiting for me to post something – what a strange part of public life to navigate – so I sat down and chose a picture,” she continued. “I clicked on post. And then I went into the bathroom and threw up.”

Bush cut short the “bittersweet irony” with her choice of photo.

“It was a black and white photo of us running away from the camera,” she wrote. “I wrote a really beautiful story about the people in this picture. But it was just that: a story. I typed something about how incredibly lucky I was, trying to drown out the familiar voice in my head. Make it look easy. Make it look perfect. If your smile is bright enough, no one may notice that all of your teeth are broken up close. But sometimes broken is just broken.”

Bush was first linked to Hughes, 42, in May 2020 and by August 2021 they were engaged. They tied the knot in June 2022, and shortly after their one-year anniversary, the actress filed for divorce in August 2023. (Bush has since come out as queer and gone public with it Ashlyn Harris.)

First, before marriage, Bush convinced herself that she had “cold feet.”

“Maybe I was too sensitive. Maybe that was the feeling you get when you settle down later in life and have to make room for another person,” she continued. “There have been moments in my life when it felt like the universe was screaming at me to pay attention. That was one of them, but I wasn’t listening.”

Instead of calling things off, Bush repeated, “Relationships are hard” and “Marriage requires compromise” before deciding to walk down the aisle.

“We had one of the greatest wedding weekends ever. We had a great time with our closest friends and family. It was honestly one of the best parties I’ve ever been to and we raised a lot of money for charity. I don’t regret any of it,” she wrote. “But after the wedding, I found myself in the depths and heartache of the fertility process, which was the most clarifying experience of my life.”

Bush recalled months of medical procedures alongside her husband, who “didn’t necessarily speak the same emotional language that I did.” She said there were various examination tables where she lay “alone” during her marriage.

“Six months into this journey, I knew deep down that I had absolutely made a mistake. “It would take a while for my head and my heart to understand what my bones already knew,” Bush said, noting that she jumped at the opportunity to star in the play 2:22 A ghost story in London’s West End from May to July 2023. The play slowly began to bring me back together. It was tiring and at the same time the most exciting experience. I enjoyed every second of it.”

Ultimately, “half” of the cast was unavailable due to illness. After spending “several nights in the hospital,” Bush decided to return home.

“It was clear my body was screaming and I had to listen. I had a hard time accepting that. I was part of a team,” she wrote. “But I needed to go home where my doctors (and, frankly, my health insurance) could get a better handle on my symptoms. My time in London was over. That’s what my marriage was like. It all collapsed at once.”