Sophia Bush Looks Back on Year that 'Broke' Her Following Illness and Divorce From Grant Hughes

Calling it the year that "broke" her, the One Tree Hill alum reflected on the many ups and downs she faced over the last 12 months, including a virus that forced her to pull out of the West End production of Danny Robins' 2:22 – A Ghost Story in July, and her divorce from Grant Hughes the following month.

Taking to Instagram early Tuesday morning, Bush shared a solo shot of her walking through a field, with a moving message to her followers.

"What a year. My whole life I've heard the saying 'put your own oxygen mask on first' and this year I learned what it meant. This past year humbled me, broke me, built me, betrayed me, freed me, and showed me what it means to really be alive. No more playing small. No more turning my back on myself. No more settling for what falls short because 'who am I to ask for more?,'" Bush began.

She continued, "This year put me back in my body. I left it a long time ago, in such a way that I forgot what it felt like to inhabit my own skin. I feel my whole self from the tops of my ears to the tips of my toes now. It's breathtaking. Life giving. Affirming. This year taught me to listen to myself and no one else. To let go of expectation that wounds and grasp possibility that frees. To not care about optics and instead invest in honesty. The truest and deepest and purest kind."

"This year sent me inward. More than I've ever been. It took me out of relationship with many of you but put me back into relationship with myself," Bush added. "I hope you are all doing well, but for this quiet and deeply personal experience I am supremely grateful."

Reflecting on the mystery illness she suffered in June, Bush said that this year served as a reminder to her to slow down, something she said she was forced to do when she got sick.

"This year reminded me that we work like waves. Sometimes we explode in symphonic beauty up front, sometimes we line up at the back of the rolling set, cheering and drumming and watching others make magic as they spray and exclaim ahead of us. Watching from the rear these past months has been a gift. It has been rest and reclamation. I hope you get to experience both, too. I hope you get a year that jolts you. That brings you back from the edge. That gives you medicine," Bush shared.

"This year the pages of Maggie Smith's book saved my life. This year I started writing again. Almost every day. I found my inner voice, and got quiet enough to listen to it. This year I slowed down; first because illness forced me to. Second because recovery required more stillness. In that way both sickness and healing are a gift. For those gifts I am so grateful," she continued.

The 41-year-old actress added, "Thank you, thank you, thank you to this life for teaching me. Thank you, thank you, thank you to this year that changed everything."

Bush concluded the post by saying she was able to "burn what never served me" in 2023, and is now in her "deepest learning season yet."

In addition to being forced to take a step back from work due to illness, 2023 also saw Bush's split from Hughes, after just 13 months of marriage.

The now-former couple began dating in 2020 during the pandemic after being friends for several years. Bush and Grant announced their engagement in August 2021, before they got married in Tulsa, Oklahoma in June 2022.

Just weeks after splitting from Hughes in August, Bush was romantically linked to retired soccer star, Ashlyn Harris, who too went through a divorce of her own in September, splitting from former wife and teammate, Ali Krieger.

Their coupling triggered a wave cheating allegations, as addressed by TMZ with a timeline of the new couple's relationship, leading Harris to respond to it all on Instagram back in November.

While Harris denied stepping out on her marriage, that didn't stop the internet from concocting its theories, and though neither Bush nor Harris have formerly confirmed their rumored relationship, a source told Entertainment Tonight in October that pair were in fact dating.

"Sophia and Ashlyn are dating and are into each other," the source said. "Although it's new, the two are on the same page and talk about their future together."