Sophia Bush attends “Melissa Etheridge: My Window” Opening Night at Circle in the Square Theatre in New York City.Photo:Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
Sophia Bushis looking back on the year that “changed everything.”
On Tuesday, the actress shared a lengthyreflectionon 2023 in the caption of an Instagram post and admitted that the past year “humbled me, broke me, built me, betrayed me, freed me, and showed me what it means to really be alive.”
“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,” Bush, 41, began. “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?’ 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.”
Bush said that 2023 taught her to listen to herself and her body instead of caring about “optics” and “expectation,” and that she rediscovered writing, found a love of poetMaggie Smithand “found my inner voice.”
“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. I hope you are all doing well, but for this quiet and deeply personal experience I am supremely grateful,” she continued.
TheOne Tree Hillalum also addressed an “illness” she faced last year, which prompted her todepart the West End production of2:22 A Ghost Story— a project that marked her professional theater debut, though she previouslysaidshe was “gutted” to leave.
“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 said of the illness, that she faced in July. “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’s candid reflections on the year come afterseparation from husband Grant Hughesafter just 13 months of marriage. The actress filed for divorce from Hughes in August, and a source close to the couple told PEOPLE at the time that the pair will “continue to run their nonprofit together and remain good friends.”
The news came less than two months after they’d celebrated their first wedding anniversary, with Bush calling the marriage the “best decision of my life” in a since-deleted Instagram post.
Grant Hughes and Sophia Bush attend the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s 31st Annual Academy Awards Viewing Party on March 12, 2023 in West Hollywood, California.JC Olivera/WireImage
JC Olivera/WireImage
In October, theChicago P.D. alum began spending time with professional soccer player Ashlyn Harris, who hadrecently ended her previous marriage, too.
“After being friends for years, and running in the same social circles, Sophia and Ashlyn went out on their first dinner date a couple of weeks ago,” a source from inside their social circle told PEOPLE. “This is so recent, and they are both beginning new chapters.”
The pair were laterspotted spending time together in December at Art Baselin Miami, andposed for a photo togetherat the event alongside former Olympic skierLindsay Vonn.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
In a statement shared with PEOPLE, a rep for Bush’s ex-husband said thatthe entrepreneur “will always want the best for Sophia, and is supportive of all that makes her happy and fulfilled.”
source: people.com
