Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris make red carpet debut after actress comes out as queer

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Sophia Bush and girlfriend Ashlyn Harris have posed on the red carpet together for the first time.

On Saturday 27 April, the One Tree Hill alum and the soccer player attended the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, with both of them wearing matching all-black outfits.

Bush was sporting a strapless dress with metallic buttons in the shape of flowers running down the middle, while Harris wore a black jacket adorned with gold buttons and black trousers.

The red carpet appearance came just a few days after Bush wrote an essay for Glamour’s April cover story, published on 25 April, in which she came out as queer and confirmed her relationship with Harris. Despite the couple recently divorcing their respective spouses, Bush clarified that the relationship was just something that coincidentally happened.

“I didn’t expect to find love in this support system. I don’t know how else to say it other than: I didn’t see it until I saw it,” she wrote. “And I think it’s very easy not to see something that’s been in front of your face for a long time when you’d never looked at it as an option and you had never been looked at as an option. What I saw was a friend with her big, happy life. And now I know she thought the same thing about me.”

The essay also featured her formally addressing her sexuality, noting that she identifies as queer. “I sort of hate the notion of having to come out in 2024,” she wrote. “I think I’ve always known that my sexuality exists on a spectrum. Right now I think the word that best defines it is queer. I can’t say it without smiling, actually. And that feels pretty great.”

After the essay had been published, Bush further reflected on it in a recent Instagram post. “I feel like last summer I had my very first birthday. My own,” the post’s caption began. “And last summer Maggie Smith’s words helped me begin to understand why. From afar, she helped me put myself back together.”

The Chicago PD actress then used a quote from Smith talking about growing up and how each former version of ourselves is carried on to the next version, comparing it to Russian nesting dolls.

“This week I got to share my own words, that I wrote down from the bottom of my ever-evolving heart,” Bush’s caption continued.

“When I uttered ‘I really love who I am, at this age, and in this moment’ I sort of couldn’t believe it. It just fell out of me. Simple. But profound. I’ve always wanted to feel that in my bones. Suddenly I do. It took a long time and a lot of work to get here.”

She concluded: “To any of who on your own journey, and to the countless number of you who’ve shared your hearts, kindness, hidden truths, and stunning responses to my essay … I see you. I do. We are all in this together. Walking each other home. Here is to the becoming.”

The former soccer star even went on to praise her girlfriend for her essay in Glamour, as she took to her Instagram Stories writing: “Proud of you babe.”