Sophia Bush reflects on coming out by sharing powerful quote about claiming her identify... after making her first red carpet debut with girlfriend Ashlyn Harris

Sophia Bush reflected on the overwhelmingly positive response to her coming out as queer in an essay for Glamour, in which she also confirmed her new romance.

The One Tree Hill actress, 41, who has been dating soccer player Ashlyn Harris since the fall following her split from Grant Hughes after 13 months of marriage, shared a quote to Instagram about reclaiming her identity from Maggie Smith's book, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, as well as some sweet words for the 'countless' fans that supported her along the way.

'I feel like last summer I had my very first birthday. My own. And last summer Maggie Smith's words helped me begin to understand why,' she captioned a stunning black and white shot of herself in strapless gown with a racy thigh-high slit.

She continued: 'From afar, she helped me put myself back together.' 

Sophia Bush reflected on the overwhelmingly positive response to her coming out as queer in an essay for Glamour, in which she also confirmed her new romance; seen in 2024

Bush went on to share the following quote from Smith's memoir, which read: 'How I picture it: We are all nesting dolls, carrying the earlier iterations of ourselves inside. We carry the past inside us. We take ourselves— all of our selves —wherever we go. Inside forty-something me is the woman I was in my thirties, the woman I was in my twenties, the teenager I was, the child I was… I still carry these versions of myself.'

'It's a kind of reincarnation without death: all these different lives we get to live in this one body, as ourselves,' the passage concluded. 

While reflecting on her powerful Glamour essay, Bush raved about being able to share her own words that she penned from the bottom of her 'ever-evolving heart.' 

'When I uttered 'I really love who I am, at this age, and in this moment' I sort of couldn't believe it. It just fell out of me,' she recalled. 'Simple. But profound. I’ve always wanted to feel that in my bones. Suddenly I do. It took a long time and a lot of work to get here.'

Bush concluded her post by writing: 'To any of who on your own journey, and to the countless number of you who’ve shared your hearts, kindness, hidden truths, and stunning responses to my essay … I see you. I do. We are all in this together. Walking each other home. Here is to the becoming ✨.' 

Her pal, Alyssa Milano, was among the first stars to comment on the post as she applauded Bush for being a 'bright light.'

'I’m so glad you’ve found your breath. You deserve all the great things,' the actress, 51, wrote.

Orange Is the New Black star Uzo Aduba, 43, sweetly commented: 'Love you, lady. So much. ❤️' 

The One Tree Hill actress, 41, who has been dating soccer player Ashlyn Harris since the fall following her split from Grant Hughes after 13 months of marriage, shared a quote to Instagram about reclaiming her identity from Maggie Smith's book, You Could Make This Place Beautiful; pictured with Harris at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday

In her Glamour essay, Bush revealed she was 'in love' with Harris whom she became friends with in 2019. 

The pair began dating following their respective divorces. Harris was previously married to Ali Krieger, who she met in met in 2010, for four years.

'I didn't expect to find love in this support system,' began the star who noted that her bond with Harris was rare and beautiful. 'I don't know how else to say it other than: I didn't see it until I saw it.' 

Bush noted that she had told her previous partners that she was attracted to women.

In addition to Hughes, she was also married to Chad Michael Murray from 2005 until 2006. 

She also detailed her 'heartbreaking' fertility struggles during her marriage to Hughes.

While reflecting on her powerful Glamour essay, Bush raved about being able to share her own words that she penned from the bottom of her 'ever-evolving heart' (seen in September 2023)

'When I uttered 'I really love who I am, at this age, and in this moment' I sort of couldn't believe it. It just fell out of me,' she recalled. 'Simple. But profound. I’ve always wanted to feel that in my bones. Suddenly I do. It took a long time and a lot of work to get here' (pictured earlier this week)

As far as falling for Ashlyn, who is a former soccer player, she said it was a new frontier. 

'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,' she shared.

'What I saw was a friend with her big, happy life. And now I know she thought the same thing about me,' said the star.

Bush added that the road to her romantic relationship with Harris was long after they met in 2019 and spent years becoming friends: 'People looking in from the outside weren't privy to just how much time it took, how many painful conversations were had,' said Sophia.

'A lot of effort was made to be graceful with other people's processing, their time and obligations, and their feelings.'

Harris has two children with her estranged wife Ali Krieger, whom she split from last year.

In her Glamour essay, Bush revealed she was 'in love' with Harris whom she became friends with in 2019 (seen in July 2023) 

Bush then added that the rumors about her seeing a woman shocked her.

She then said there were many 'blatant lies and violent threats' toward her because she was with Harris

'There were the accusations of being a home-wrecker,' she said.

'The ones who said I'd left my ex because I suddenly realized 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!),' she said, making it very clear she was open with her former partners that she liked women.

Now she feels very comfortable in the queer community as she has 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.'

Bush pictured with her ex-husband Grant Hughes in 2022 in Washington, DC

Sophia asserted that her sexuality 'exists on a spectrum.'

And she concluded: 'Right now I think the word that best defines it is queer. I can't say it without smiling, actually. And that feels pretty great.'

In an accompanying Glamour podcast, Sophia dished: 'I feel like I've been wearing an 80-pound weighted vest for probably a decade, and I finally just f**king put it down...

'For the first time in my life I know what ease is, I am the most excited about the future that I have ever been and I don't feel like I owe anything to anyone.

'I have never been more in integrity in my life... All I am making space for is joy and I would've loved for a lot of things to have happened a little differently but at the end of the day, I have nothing to apologize for.'

She concluded: 'The bonus of this whole journey is that I spend every day around a person that being close to is like getting shone on by the sun.'

Elsewhere in the essay, Sophia confessed that two months before tying the knot with Hughes she came 'close' to calling of the wedding, but admitted: 'Instead of running away, I doubled down on being a model wife.'

And when her one-year wedding anniversary rolled around she felt sick because she knew she was not happy and the union was not good for her.

Bush added that as they endured the 'heartbreak of the fertility process' together that it became evident that the partner she had chosen 'didn’t necessarily speak the same emotional language' as her. 

'I didn't expect to find love in this support system,' began the star who noted that her bond with Harris was rare and beautiful. 'I don't know how else to say it other than: I didn't see it until I saw it' (Bush seen earlier this month)

Before tying the knot with Hughes she had previously been married to her One Tree Hill co-star Murray.

The couple said 'I do' in Santa Monica before celebrating at Hotel Casa del Mar with their friends and family.

But the co-stars shocked fans when they split just five months later. 

It was rumored at the time that Murray had stepped out on their marriage with none other than his House of Wax co-star Paris Hilton

Bush attempted to get the marriage annulled on her grounds of fraud, but her efforts were unsuccessful, and the divorce was ultimately finalized in 2006.

'This is a difficult and unfortunate situation. I am glad this is being resolved sooner rather than later,' she said in a statement shared with People at the time of the finalization.

Recounting their relationship in 2014, she said on Watch What Happens Live: 'We were two stupid kids who had no business being in a relationship in the first place.'

'To all the other costars who've worked it out, more power to you.'