Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris found love in the 'most unexpected place'

Sophia Bush has thanked her girlfriend Ashlyn Harris for "putting [her] back together".

The former 'One Tree Hill' star turned 42 on Monday (08.07.24) and posted an emotional tribute to her 38-year-old soccer player lover and recalled how they found love in the "most unexpected place" - and she will never get over "the gift of it".

Ashlyn gushed on Instagram: "You are such a gift in this world.

"To see you shine and happy fills us all up. I love your heart Soph… I love everything about you. Happy born day baby."

Sophia posted: "Last year I got free.

"This year I found the very best love in the very most unexpected place.

"I may never get over the gift of it.

"Thank you for putting me back together. For making my second birthday even better than my first. And for reminding me what the sound of my unbridled laughter sounds like. You are magic. You are my best present."

Sophia revealed in April that she identifies as queer and confirmed her relationship.

She discussed her relationship in an emotional essay for America's Glamour magazine earlier this year, in which she told how she fell for Ashlyn while the ex-US Women’s International Soccer Team player was dealing with her split from her fellow footballer wife, Ali Krieger.

Sophia said: “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.

“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.”

Sophia added things soon “turned ugly” as the pair started to face allegations they had been unfaithful to their partners – which Ashlyn strongly denied.

She said: “The idea that I left my marriage based on some hysterical rendezvous – that, to be crystal-clear, never happened – rather than having taken over a year to do the most soul crushing work of my life?

“Rather than seeing I had to be the most vulnerable I’ve ever been, on a public stage, despite being terrified to my core?”

Sophia and Ashlyn’s relationship was first reported in October 2023, two months after the actress filed for divorce from Grant.

They made their first public appearance as a couple in March at Sir Elton John’s annual Oscars party.