Hilarie Burton Defends Sophia Bush From Erin Foster Cheating Claims

Hilarie Burton has taken to social media to dispute claims made by Erin Foster regarding the timeline of Sophia Bush and Chad Michael Murray‘s past romance. Foster, who dated Murray from 2001 to 2002, alleged on a recent episode of her podcast that the actor cheated on her with his One Tree Hill costar Bush while they were still dating.

Burton, who cohosts the Drama Queens podcast with Bush and fellow One Tree Hill alum Bethany Joy Lenz, spoke out on Instagram Stories, offering a different perspective on the timeline. “As a person who had a front-row seat then? This wasn’t it,” the actress wrote. “We were all told you’d been broken up, which is why our guy was pursuing her.”

She further expressed her willingness to discuss the matter with Foster, asserting that everyone deserves to know the truth. Burton also criticized the accusation for making Bush “look like a brazen harlot” and jokingly claimed, “if she’s anyone’s harlot, it’s mine.” She added, “Lotta internet voices being so nasty, and as the person who knows the real timeline? It would be laughable if it wasn’t so hurtful.”

Foster had made the allegations on her podcast, The World’s First Podcast, on an episode that aired on Oct. 19. She claimed that Murray cheated on her with Bush in a “pretty egregious way” while they were living together during the early 2000s. Despite her revelations, Foster noted that she had moved on from the past, having married Simon Tikhman in a star-studded ceremony on New Year’s Eve in 2019.

In contrast, Bush and Murray tied the knot in April 2005 but separated just five months later. Bush went on to marry entrepreneur Grant Hughes in 2022, although she filed for divorce earlier this year.

Bush, the star of Chicago P.D., has started dating retired soccer player Ashlyn Harris. Meanwhile, Harris is currently in the midst of her own divorce from fellow USWNT star Ali Krieger.

Meanwhile, ET recently spoke with Burton ahead of her defense of Bush, where she praised her longtime co-star and friend. 

“She’s just not afraid to throw herself in front of the line of fire,” Burton told ET’s Deidre Behar. “She’s done it for me so many times and so, I want to protect her at all costs.”

“Everybody’s had an internet scuffle or two and Sophia is the first person that will rush in and that is why my husband loves her so much because he’s like, ‘You know, other than me — the person who comes to your defense and the person who will fight for your honor is Sophia,’ and so I love that she’s unafraid,” Burton elaborated, referencing her husband, Jeffrey Dean Morgan. “Sometimes with people who are so strong and unafraid, they hide their soft inside and so it’s my job as her best friend to protect her as well because she really is the most wonderful human and, yeah, we’ll still be working together when we’re in our eighties.”

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