Sophia Bush alleges she endured ‘every kind of abusive treatment' on a show from ‘someone old enough to be my father'

New York Post

a day ago

Sophia Bush is opening up.
During the Tuesday, June 3 podcast episode of Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky, the former 'One Tree Hill' star, 42, talked about working on a TV show where she she suffered 'every kind' of abuse on the set, with 'someone old enough to be [her] father.'
Bush didn't name the older man or the show, but it appeared to be 'Chicago P.D' from the timeline.
'I was in this great place [after One Tree Hill], and I was ready for what was next,' Bush said.
'And I did this comedy that I loved … for CBS. Then I went to work on this other show that was on my bucket list and then I had this whole other trauma. I had a workplace ongoing trauma revolving around an unending situation with someone old enough to be my father. And I was like, what is happening?'
8 Sophia Bush on 'Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky.'
ReclaimingwithMonicaLewinsky/YouTube
8 Monica Lewinsky interviewing Sophia Bush for the 'Reclaiming' podcast.
ReclaimingwithMonicaLewinsky/YouTube
Following her nine year run on 'One Tree Hill,' from 2003-2012, Bush starred on the NBC procedural 'Chicago P.D.,' where she played Detective Erin Lindsay for 84 episodes, from 2014-2017.
Bush said she wasn't able to exit the unnamed show until April 2017, a few months before the #MeToo movement began.
8 Sophia Bush attends American Ballet Theatre's 2025 Spring Gala celebrating its 85th Anniversary at Cipriani South Street on May 28, 2025 in New York City.
Getty Images for American Ballet Theatre
'By October [2017], I got a call from an executive apologizing for what they'd done and not done. And [they] said, 'We're very aware we just made it out of that unscathed.' And I was like, 'Glad you did. I'm in so much therapy. I even diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.'
She quipped, 'But I'm thrilled you guys didn't get dragged through the press, that's great.'
The Post reached out to NBC and Bush's reps for comment.
8 Sophia Bush, Chad Michael Murray, Hilarie Burton, James Lafferty, Bethany Joy Lenz on 'One Tree Hill.'
Warner Bros
8 Sophia Bush as Erin Linday, Jesse Lee Soffer as Jay Halstead on 'Chicago P.D.'
NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
When Lewinsky asked Bush to clarify if she meant that she was in a professional or romantic relationship with the unnamed older man – and if the abuse was emotional or another kind – Bush replied, 'Professional — and every kind of abusive.'
The 'John Tucker Must Die' star recalled waking up in 'physical hell,' having a 'spontaneous illness' and being 'covered in hives' over the stress of that time period.
8 Ashlynn Harris and Sophia Bush attend American Ballet Theatre's 2025 Spring Gala celebrating its 85th Anniversary at Cipriani South Street on May 28, 2025 in New York City.
Getty Images for American Ballet Theatre
She added, 'As an extrovert who loves people, to be hit with anxiety in such a way that I could barely be out of the house; if people touched me in public, I would jump out of my skin. I couldn't talk to people anymore,' she said.
Bush, who returned to network TV for the current season of 'Grey's Anatomy,' added, 'I couldn't talk to strangers anymore. I couldn't be looked at anymore, especially in the work environment.'
8 Sophia Bush on 'One Tree Hill.'
©CW Network/Courtesy Everett Collection
She added, 'Because I had to go to work ready for war all the time, I had to learn where to stand to not get elbowed in the ribs or how to block a scene to not be touched. It was just exhausting.'
Bush has previously spoken about being unhappy on 'Chicago P.D.'
In 2017, she told Refinery 29's Unstyled podcast that she was 'miserable' going to work every day, adding, 'I had to respect myself in a situation where I didn't feel respected.'
8 Sophia Bush as Erin Lindsay, Jesse Lee Soffer as Jay Halstead on 'Chicago P.D.'
NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Bush also previously reflected on her time on 'Chicago P.D' when speaking with the Armchair Expert podcast.
She said towards the end of her time on that show, 'I was probably difficult to be around because I was in so much pain and I felt so ignored.
'I feel like I was standing butt naked, bruised and bleeding in the middle of Times Square, screaming at the top of my lungs and not a single person stopped to ask if they could help me,' she continued.