Sophia Bush says she and co-stars were ‘fetishised’ on One Tree Hill set

Bush portrayed Brooke Davis on the teen drama

Sophia Bush says she and her co-stars were “fetishised” on the set of One Tree Hill.

The actor, who portrayed Brooke Davis on the teen drama, was asked about her experiences on set during a recent interview with the Chicks in the Office podcast.

“You guys were in your early twenties when you were doing the show, but you were playing high school students, so you must have got treated like high school students on set?” one of the co-hosts asked Bush.

Bush, who was 21 when One Tree Hill began airing in 2003, replied: “It was weird, because in some ways, we were treated like adults – looking back on it, we can see the ways in which we were fetishised and we had this sort of lens of adultification put over us.

“This idea that we were supposed to know everything and have answers, and be ultimately professional when we didn’t even know what the technical terms were. It was like, ‘Get on your mark,’ And you’re like, ‘What are you talking about? What is a mark? What do you mean?’”

Bush said she and her co-stars “were expected to be these adults”, but “were also looked at kind of as pawns”.

“And we had grown-ups who we trusted who we now understand were being really controlling and manipulative – who didn’t want us to be close because they thought we would band together and ask for more money, and it’s like, what?” she added. “It’s just so weird, and those were not things we were aware of at the time.”

One Tree Hill first aired on The WB, and later on The CW when The WB folded. The Independent has contacted The CW for comment.

This isn’t the first time Bush has spoken out about alleged incidents on the set of One Tree Hill.

Back in 2017, the actors was among several cast and crew members who accused One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn of sexual harassment. In the wake of the allegations, Schwahn did not return as showrunner of the soap opera The Royals, which ended that same year.