Sophia Bush can’t escape the conflation she faces from her role as Brooke Davis on the the hit television series ‘One Tree Hill’.
By: Abby Knowles
Sophia Bush was cast as the character of Brooke Davis on the CW show One Tree Hill when she was 20. Her character was 16. It was about two half-brothers, Lucas and Nathan Scott, basketball players in the fictional town Tree Hill, North Carolina. Bush’s character, cheerleader Brooke Davis, was your typical mean girl - outgoing, sassy, and confident. She was written to be the anti-hero of the show, falling for Lucas Scott, played by Chad Michael Murray, early on in the series but then getting cheated on by him with her best friend, Peyton Sawyer, played by Burton.
As they say, life imitates art, and Bush and Murray fell in love off screen. After two years of dating, they got married in 2005 but got divorced a year later. Following their split, there were rumors swirling that Murray cheated on Bush with Paris Hilton, which led to a media frenzy. In an interview after the split, Bush said "It devastates me now that I have been reduced to a Hollywood statistic — another joke marriage. I never expected to be married more than once … because I knew what I was getting into and will always believe in love."
Even though the reports said Murray cheated, Bush received backlash regarding the divorce, with social media claims that she was ‘dramatic’ and that she was the problem in the failed marriage. I believe that the public couldn’t see Bush as anything besides the anti-hero Brooke Davis, a snotty cheerleader. They conflated her on-screen persona with her off-screen life, as fans tend to do. On the show, they watched as her character was pitted against her best friend, desperately fighting for Lucas’ attention. However, the men in the series were portrayed as heroes, and could do no wrong.
But the problem with One Tree Hill was that it was a show rife with sexism. And the rants about Bush off-screen were equally sexist. While today, she is working out the environment of the show, especially the toxic work environment created by Mark Schawhn, the show’s creator, and is on a new TV show, she’s never been able to drop the image Brooke Davis the character gave her. The production team on the show happens to be all men (Mark Schawhn, Brian Robbins, Joe Davola, and Mark Perry).
The difference in portrayals of the men and women on set caused a stir with the female cast members. Bush claimed that "we [female cast members] were kind of treated like the early 2000s character versions of small dogs and purses. We were accessories for the boys," and stated that she, along with costars Burton and Lenz, were “manipulated psychologically and emotionally” during their time on the show, especially by the creator.
“The producers did not behave appropriately; ads began to circulate on TV to take advantage of the situation [her divorce from Murray]; they made practice of taking advantage of people’s personal lives and not just for me and for my ex — for other actors on the show who would share, like as you do when you get close to people, deeply personal things that were happening in their lives and they would wind up in storylines. It wasn’t OK.”
In November of 2017, in the midst of MeToo, Schwahn was accused of sexual harrassment by multiple women – with harassment stretching from being manipulated to having inappropriate comments made towards “them while they worked on The Royals or One Tree Hill.” After these strong allegations were made, Schwahn was then fired from working on his Netflix show ‘The Royals’. Also in 2017, cast members of One Tree Hill came together to talk about Mark Schawhn, and the sexual harassment during their time on the show.
These cast members included Bush, Hilarie Burton, and Bethany Joy Lenz, all who were leads in all nine seasons of the show. Eighteen female cast and crew members of ‘One Tree Hill’ stated in a letter that “Many of us were put in uncomfortable positions and had to swiftly learn to fight back, sometimes physically, because it was made clear to us that the supervisors in the room were not the protectors they were supposed to be.”
She, along with Burton and Lenz, have been trying to change the media’s perception for years since Schawn’s allegations and speaking out about sexual harrassment in the entertainment industry. They currently have a podcast titled “Drama Queens'' where they talk about the show episode by episode, which seems to be a coping mechanism to remember the good times they had on set so their experience is not completely shattered by the treatment they received during filming, but also as a way to gain power back. (see left)
“But I don’t want to. Why do I want to talk about this anymore? And I get why you asked, but it’s like people won’t let it go.”
But, even as they have been open about the toxicity of the workplace they faced, what the podcast hosts still are missing is that a show written entirely by men - men who are sexist - can’t possibly get women right.
The show made the men out to seem like heroes, even if they were cheating, or treating their love interests poorly. The writers are at fault for this issue – it ultimately was their decision and by having an all male production team, Bush felt as though she was powerless in standing up for herself. In an interview, she explained how she never wanted to marry Murray in the first place – she felt pressured by producers; “she believed producers thought she was a good influence on Murray and if they got married, it would help straighten up his life.”
By not disavowing the drama queen character, along with the creator, she’s perpetuating old, tired stereotypes. What’s the benefit? The continued popularity of the show? Residuals? Maybe it’s not worth it for her to completely separate herself from Brooke Davis either.
Bush has since married entrepreneur Grant Hughes, and is currently starring in her new medical drama, ‘Good Sam.’ She is an activist for many fundraisers including Fuck Cancer, Run for the Gulf, and Global Green Gulf Relief. Her blog, ‘The Work in Progress Pod’ is a website where Bush has conversations with people that inspire her about where they are going, what they are doing, and what their passions are.
That’s probably because she doesn’t want to let go of that role either.