Sophia Bush called her wife, retired soccer goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, “the best person I know” while discussing the scrutiny surrounding their relationship.
In an interview published by PEOPLE on October 28, Bush said online abuse has been difficult to face while she lives with PTSD stemming from a separate experience. She is trying to give more weight to what she knows happened than to strangers’ assumptions.
Bush, 44, and Harris, 41, married privately in summer 2025 and announced their marriage in September 2026. Their relationship became public in October 2023, following their respective divorce filings, and both have denied accusations of infidelity.
Bush’s latest comments accompanied the release of her first memoir, And I Will Tell You Mine: Notes from a Life in Progress. Published by Flatiron Books on October 27, it explores her acting career, relationships and experiences of living in the public eye.
Bush Says She Looks Up to Harris
Bush praised Harris’s integrity and her willingness to take the high road in difficult situations. Watching her wife respond that way has made Bush reflect on her own reactions. “I don’t always get that right,” she said.
Her admiration extends beyond how Harris handles conflict. Bush described her wife as the person she most enjoys spending time with, whether they have something planned or are simply doing nothing together.
That everyday companionship has brought a sense of peace Bush once doubted she would find. She said she wants to treasure it, even as being publicly visible continues to feel frightening to her.
Harris Previously Described the Toll of Online Abuse
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In a November 18, 2023 Instagram statement, Harris said she and former teammate Ali Krieger had spent considerable time working through their separation before it became public. She described continuing therapy and trying to put their children first.
Harris said hostile online messages had harmed her mental health and expressed concern that her children would eventually read them. As Glamour reported at the time, she emphasized that her priority was being a good co-parent with Krieger.
Bush revisited the relationship’s beginning on the October 21 episode of Call Her Daddy. She said she and Harris had filed for divorce and were living apart from their respective spouses, Grant Hughes and Ali Krieger, before their first date.
She acknowledged wishing she had waited another six weeks to take Harris out, while maintaining that their romance had not begun as an affair, as Wealth of Geeks previously reported.
Keeping Their Wedding Private Gave Bush Something of Her Own
In a separate interview published October 27, Bush told USA TODAY that she wanted her wedding to remain a personal experience. After becoming famous in her early 20s, she had struggled to preserve parts of her life that did not immediately become public.
She rejected the idea that keeping the marriage private meant treating it as a secret. For Bush, the decision was about reclaiming privacy and avoiding the feeling of putting on a performance.
The couple told Vogue that their small ceremony took place in upstate New York, with Harris and Krieger’s children, Sloane and Ocean, present. They later visited friends and relatives to share the news personally before announcing it publicly.
Bush is now the children’s stepmother. Her memoir devotes a chapter to loving someone who already has children and finding her place in that family.
Bush Chose Which Stories Belonged in Her Memoir
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On the book’s release day, Bush shared photographs of a thank-you package containing the memoir and a journal marked “TELL ME YOURS.” Her Instagram caption encouraged readers to share their own experiences and described her hope that the book would help them feel less alone.
Bush told USA TODAY that she wrote hundreds of pages that did not appear in the finished manuscript. Some stories were important for her to acknowledge privately, she explained, but did not need to become part of the book.