Apr 26

Apr 26 Sophia Bush says she nearly called off wedding to ex after something happened she’ll ‘never talk about’.

The former "One Tree Hill" actor filed for divorce from Hughes after 13 months of marriage.

Sophia Bush is sharing some insight about her divorce from entrepreneur Grant Hughes.

Nearly one year after she filed for divorce from the Hughes, Bush tells Glamour on their new video series, "We Need to Talk," why she decided to end their 13-month marriage.

"What's interesting is that people think things came apart in the summer with my ex. I think that's just when things became undeniable," Bush said.

"Something happened — and I will never talk about what it is because it doesn't matter and it's nobody's business — but something happened in April of 2022," she explained. "And I was this close to calling off my wedding. I was like, I am out."

On Aug. 4, 2023, Bush filed for divorce from Hughes. The couple wed on June 11, 2022, at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Bush says she wasn't sure whether or not she was going to walk down the aisle.

"You're very used to your life being your individual life and you got to make space for somebody else," she said.

However, after they wed, Bush says there was a moment when she realized their marriage just wasn't working out.

"It got really easy to always have people over and to have a house filled with laughter," she said. "But when I looked at my ex and said, 'When was the last time you and I laughed alone together?' and we couldn't answer the question, it was kind of like, what are we doing? And we started spending a lot of time apart."

As for their divorce, Bush says she was going to go about it another way, but she soon changed her mind once she encountered a "really hard" situation that made her rethink her relationship with Hughes.

"The plan was not to say a lot to the world, but I discovered things through the summer that made the plan change," she said.

Bush, who identifies as queer, is now in a relationship with former U.S. soccer player Ashlyn Harris, whom she met in 2019. In September 2023, Harris filed for divorce from her fellow soccer pro ex-wife, Ali Krieger, after nearly four years of marriage.

While thinking about her relationship with Hughes, Bush says she tried hard to be a "model wife" and even forced herself to write a sweet tribute on Instagram for their one-year anniversary.

"I hit post. And then I walked into the bathroom and threw up," she recalled.

Bush attributed her sad feelings to her having "cold feet" or maybe being doing "too sensitive."

"Maybe this was the feeling you get when you settle down later in life and have to make space for another person," she said.

However, Bush says she couldn't deny that something was wrong. It became even more clear to her when she and Hughes tried to get pregnant.

"I was trying to get through months of endless ultrasounds, hormone shots, so many blood draws that I have scar tissue in my veins, and retrieval after retrieval, while simultaneously realizing the person I had chosen to be my partner didn’t necessarily speak the same emotional language I did," she said.

Read on for more about Sophia Bush and Grant Hughes' relationship.

Who is Grant Hughes?

Grant Hughes is an entrepreneur and real estate investor from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

He loves to travel and has a passion for giving back, which connected him to Bush and her philanthropic endeavors, the pair told Vogue.

He attended the University of Oklahoma where he got a bachelor's degree in business administration in entrepreneurship and venture management, per his LinkedIn. He also has a master's degree in education from Loyola Marymount University.

Additionally, Hughes has a master's in business administration (MBA) in strategy, innovation, design thinking and a master's in environment psychology and decision making from the University of Michigan.

What does Grant Hughes do for a living?

Hughes is a jack-of-all-trades. He the founder and CEO of Drink Good Wine, a company that sources curated wines for their members.

He is also the owner and operator of BLRE Investments that invests in and operates real estate across the United States. Hughes is also part of The Venice Book Club, a social book club based in Venice Beach, California.

Prior to his current gigs and interests, he was a co-founder and chief strategy officer for FocusMotion, a “data-driven orthopedic recovery solutions to automatically assess and monitor pre- and post-operative patients, building the deep learning and diagnostic AI that will transform human recovery.”

Grant Hughes and Sophia Bush got engaged in Italy in August 2021.Charley Gallay / Getty Images for Veuve Clicquot

How did Sophia Bush and Grant Hughes meet?

The pair met while on a New Year’s trip to Nicaragua about 10 years ago, per Vogue.

“We became fast friends but only saw each other a few times a year because both of us were traveling all of the time for work,” Bush told the magazine.

When did Sophia Bush and Grant Hughes start dating?

In 2020, around the start of the pandemic, the two reconnected over books, philanthropic initiatives and sharing articles, per Vogue. They then began FaceTiming, which led to them dating.

In a January 2021 Instagram post, hidden in a slideshow was a photo of the two wearing face masks.

“Our first date was also our first Covid test,” Hughes wrote in his caption, describing the photo.

The couple at the CAA Kickoff Party for the White House Correspondents Dinner on April 29, 2022 in Washington, D.C.Leigh Vogel/Getty Images

The pair only made a handful of public appearances during their time together. On Oct. 2, 2021, they were all smiles at the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic Los Angeles at Will Rogers State Historic Park Pacific Palisades, California.

They were also photographed at the CAA kickoff party for the White House Correspondents Dinner in D.C. on April 29, 2022. Among their last public outing was at this year's Elton John AIDS Foundation’s 31st annual Academy Awards viewing party on March 12.

When did Sophia Bush and Grant Hughes get engaged?

It wasn't long before Grant popped the question. While on a trip to Lake Como, Italy, in August 2021, Hughes booked a sightseeing tour on a classic Riva boat for the two of them. During golden hour, he proposed to Bush. The two would later share the news with the world and their Instagram followers.

“So it turns out that being your favorite person’s favorite person is the actual best feeling on planet Earth,” Bush wrote alongside the since-deleted Instagram photo, which showed Hughes kneeling down on one knee on the boat and placing a ring on her finger.

In his own post on Instagram, Hughes also shared photos from their engagement.

"She is my forever Favorite. This is my favorite. And our life is that we’re building because she said 'Yes' is already my favorite. I am SO EXCITED to do life with you, my love," his caption reads in part.