Chad Michael Murray opens up on short lived Sophia Bush marriage

Chad Michael Murray is reflecting on his marriage to One Tree Hill co-star Sophia Bush in 2005.

The Freaky Friday star says he was a baby when he rushed into marriage with then-girlfriend Bush at 23-years-of-age.

“I was a baby. I didn’t know up, down, left, right,” Murray, 42, told The Cut. “You move out there and you go, ‘Well, what am I supposed to do now? Get married? That’s exciting!’”

However, the duo’s marriage couldn’t last long and they separated just five months later. The pair divorced in 2006.

Bush has previously echoed the same sentiment regarding their marriage. In an August 2021 interview, she said, “I was a very naïve 21-year-old kid, and that’s all there is to it.”

She added: “I’ve tried to poke fun at being a dumb kid and whenever I’ve done that, it gets twisted into I’m talking s–t about somebody who I don’t even know anymore, who’s clearly a grown-up. I think you have to, like, laugh at who you used to be, but when people ask me about history that involves someone else … it’s not worth my time. It’s not a place where I harbor ill will or anything.”

Both Murray and Bush have said they sought therapy in the years following their divorce and found it helpful. as openly discussed starting therapy in the years since their marriage, and Murray said he also finds counseling helpful.

“I was around 23 and I had an event in Miami, but I couldn’t leave my hotel room,” Murray added in his profile for the publication. “The world felt like it was closing in; I was having anxiety attacks.”

He also sought solace in Christianity during that time. “I woke up and felt unsettled. I didn’t like the direction that I was going in my life,” he said. “I went to church, and I got a tattoo of a cross on my left wrist, and I was like, I’m going to move myself in faith.”