"I had to go to work ready for war all the time" - Sophia Bush discusses alleged abuse on TV set in conversation with Monica Lewinsky

Actress Sophia Bush opened up about suffering alleged abuse while working on a television show. During a podcast episode of Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky released on June 3, Bush recounted her experience of filming while undergoing alleged abuse. She said,

“I had to go to work ready for war all the time. And I had to learn where to stand to not, you know, get elbowed in the ribs or how to block a scene to not be touched…it was just so exhausting.”

While the actress did not identify the show during the filming of which she allegedly suffered abuse, Bush explained to Monica Lewinsky that working on the series was traumatic. She stated,

“I went to work on this other show that was, you know, sort of on my bucket list and then I had this whole other trauma, I had a workplace ongoing trauma you know revolving around an unending situation with someone old enough to be my father. And I was like, ‘what is happening?’”

Sophia Bush opens up about the impact of alleged abuse on her physical and mental health

The One Tree Hill star candidly spoke about the ramifications of suffering abuse in a work environment. While speaking to Lewinsky, Bush explained that she attempted to power through her work despite facing the alleged abuse. She said,

“When I look back at it, I had the opportunity after two years to go. And I did the thing I'd learned to do and said, ‘I will not be, I will not have my integrity diminished by someone else's behavior. I will be unflappable. I will come to work and do my job.’ And I couldn’t.”

Continuing, Bush revealed that the alleged trauma had a debilitating impact on her wellbeing. She added,

“And the next two years were like physical hell for me right and to go through, you know, spontaneous illness, wake up covered in hives to have a really crazy weight fluctuation to start watching my hair fall out. To struggle with insomnia, to have such crippling anxiety. As an extrovert who loves people, to be hit with anxiety that I could barely be out of the house.”

Bush also explained during her appearance on Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky, that the allegedly abusive work environment had an impact her social interactions. She noted,

“If people touched me in public, I, like I would jump out of my skin. I couldn't talk to people anymore, I couldn't talk to strangers anymore. I couldn't be looked at anymore. And especially in the work environment if people came in like, if I was trying to get out of set and in a car and I got approached by people on the street, it felt like a physical attack. My body was not my own.”

Finally, Sophia Bush recounted that she got the opportunity to exit the show in April 2017. She revealed that the Me Too movement, which began later that year, prompted the show’s executive to apologize to her. Recounting the moment, Bush said,

“By October I got a call from an executive apologizing for what they’d done and not done and said ‘We're very aware that we just made it out of that unscathed.’ And I was like, ‘Glad you did, I'm in so much therapy.’ I've been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder but I'm thrilled you guys didn't get dragged through the press it's great.”

Sophia Bush has previously opened up about facing abusive behavior on set

Back in 2018, Sophia Bush opened up about quitting her job on Chicago P.D., where she played Detective Erin Lindsay for four seasons, as per Deadline. While appearing on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, the actress revealed that she had exited the show. She said,

“I realized that as I was thinking I was like, being a tough guy, doing the thing, showing up at work, I programmed myself to tolerate the intolerable. And part of the big break for me in saying no, I don’t necessarily know what it is, but I know that what's happening is not good for me and everything has to change, that was a big cut off point when I quit my job.”

When Shepard asked if she was talking about Chicago P.D., Bush confirmed that she was referring to how she came to exit the show. Bush also revealed that she had allegedly suffered:

“a consistent onslaught barrage of abusive behavior”

During her appearance on the Armchair Expert podcast, Bush also candidly spoke about the impact of abuse on self-perception, and said,

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“You know, you start to lose your way when someone ass**lts you in a room full of people and everyone literally looks away, looks at the floor, looks at the ceiling, and you're the one woman in the room and every man who’s twice your size doesn't do something, you go, ‘oh that wasn't worth defending, I’m not worth defending.’”

While Sophia Bush noted in 2018 that she left Chicago P.D. because of her experience on the sets of the show, during her recent conversation with Lewinsky, the actress did not specify which show she was referring to.

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