Sophia Bush and Grant Hughes had a short-lived marriage, but their relationship was years in the making.
The actress met the entrepreneur nearly a decade before things between them turned romantic.
“We became fast friends but only saw each other a few times a year because both of us were traveling all of the time for work,” Bush recalled to Vogue during her and Hughes’ wedding spread, published in July 2022.
Their friendship eventually developed into something romantic, and by May 2020, Bush and Hughes made their first public outing together. The couple announced their engagement in August 2021.
“Grant booked us a sightseeing tour on a classic Riva boat and popped the question during golden hour,” Bush said of the proposal. “We shared the news publicly a few days later because we’d been spotted in Puglia by a group of very sweet Gen Z girls, and I watched them clock the ring on my finger.”
They tied the knot nearly one year later in June 2022, with Bush later revealing that she almost called off the entire ceremony.
“In April of 2022 I was close to calling off my wedding,” she wrote in a Glamour cover story published two years later. “Instead of running away, I doubled down on being a model wife.”
In August 2023, Bush filed for divorce after just 13 months of marriage. Keep scrolling to look back at Bush and Hughes’ relationship timeline:
May 2020
After Bush was spotted with someone dubbed as a “mystery man” at the time, Us Weekly confirmed that it was Hughes.
August 2021
Bush announced her engagement to Hughes on Instagram.
“So it turns out that being your favorite person’s favorite person is the actual best feeling on planet Earth #YES,” she captioned the photo.
June 2022
Us confirmed that Bush and Hughes had gotten married in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
July 2022
The month after they shared their “I dos,” Bush and Hughes’ wedding was showcased in Vogue.
“I have truly never felt so much positivity at once, so much clarity,” she told the publication. “As a person who suffers anxiety, it felt incredible to experience a sheer absence of it. I couldn’t stop smiling.”
Sophia Bush and Husband Grant Hughes: The Way They Were
June 2023
Bush and Hughes celebrated their one-year anniversary. However, the actress was experiencing secret turmoil regarding the relationship milestone. “In 2023 my now ex-husband posted a lovely tribute to our first anniversary on Instagram. When I saw it, I felt the blood drain from my face,” she wrote for Glamour in April 2024.
“Things hadn’t been easy at home, but everyone says marriage is hard, right? As the day wore on, I felt mounting pressure from strangers online waiting for me to post something — what a strange part of public life to have to navigate — so I sat myself down and chose a picture,” Bush recalled. “I hit post. And then I walked into the bathroom and threw up.”
August 2023
Us confirmed that Bush filed for divorce from Hughes after 13 months of marriage. Their official separation date was listed as June 27 — just 16 days after their one-year anniversary.
A source told Us at the time Bush and Hughes were “better off as friends,” adding they “weren’t getting enough time with each other” before calling it quits.
October 2023
Bush sparked romance rumors with Ashlyn Harris in the months after her divorce news broke.
“Grant will always want the best for Sophia, and is supportive of all that makes her happy and fulfilled,” a rep for Hughes told Page Six at the time, responding to Bush and Harris speulation. (Bush came out as queer and confirmed her relationship with Harris in a Glamour cover story published in April 2024.)