Sophia Bush gave wife Ashlyn Harris a private reading of the memoir chapters about their relationship, and the couple “sobbed happy tears.” The actress described the occasion as one of her most precious experiences while working on the book.
The One Tree Hill and Chicago P.D. actress, 44, discussed the moment in an interview published November 7 by Entertainment Weekly. Reading was part of her editing process: she did not consider a chapter finished until she had heard it aloud herself.
Her book, And I Will Tell You Mine: Notes from a Life in Progress, was published October 27 by Flatiron Books and has reached No. 1 on The New York Times hardcover nonfiction bestseller list. It covers her childhood, career and personal relationships.
Bush had resisted writing a memoir for nearly a decade before reconsidering in her forties. In a separate interview with PEOPLE, she described the process as “an exorcism” that helped her examine patterns in her life.
How Bush Put Their Relationship Into Words
View this post on Instagram
Bush and Harris had known each other for years, meeting at events and supporting some of the same causes. In the memoir, Bush describes recognizing her feelings for Harris during summer 2023, as her marriage to Grant Hughes and Harris’s marriage to former soccer player Ali Krieger were ending.
Bush told EW she had not understood how much she had been struggling until she experienced “a love that isn’t hard” with Harris. Everyday life could still demand hard work, she explained, without the relationship feeling that way.
Harris first heard the book’s dedication when Bush’s initial printed copy arrived. Bush read it aloud to her wife, whom she calls her “invisible string” in the opening tribute.
A Family Wedding in Upstate New York
View this post on Instagram
Bush and Harris married in upstate New York in summer 2025. They publicly announced the marriage on September 30, 2026, when Vogue published an interview and an excerpt from the memoir. Before that announcement, they had traveled to share the news with friends and relatives in person.
Bush’s best friend, Nia, became ordained online to officiate, reporting that the process had taken two minutes and 36 seconds. Harris brought a tuxedo; Bush, who had packed for the children but forgotten her own outfit, found a black velvet dress with gold flecks in a basement box.
They tucked their handwritten vows into a book by Mary Oliver and exchanged rings with Harris’s children, Sloane and Ocean, nearby. The family roasted marshmallows that evening.
The chapter also describes a photograph of the couple near the woods, surrounded by a circle of sunlight. Bush writes that the picture hangs on their wall and that she looks at it every day.