Sophia Bush is learning from her “One Tree Hill” run.
Bush, 38, played Brooke Davis for nine seasons of the hit series. In a recent interview on the “Chicks in the Office” podcast, Bush discussed her time on the show, which saw her portray a high school student despite being in her early 20s.
“It was weird because, in some ways, we were treated like adults. We were expected to be these adults and yet, we were also looked at kind of as pawns.”
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“Looking back on it, we can see the ways in which we were fetishized and we had this lens of adultification put over us with this idea that we were supposed to know everything and have answers, and be, ultimately, professional,” Bush continued. “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?'”
Bush claimed that she and certain co-stars were being manipulated by adults in the room.
“We had grown-ups who we trusted, who now we understand were being really controlling and manipulative — who didn’t want us to be close ’cause they thought we would band together and ask for more money,” she alleged. “It’s just so weird and those were just things we were not aware of at the time.”
The “Chicago P.D.” star explained how there was no outlet — social media, for instance — to talk about poor work environments and other issues.
“There was no social media where people were talking about this stuff and giving people advice, and figuring out if you were being paid equitably,” she explained. “We didn’t have any of that. We were just in the dark.”
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These days, Bush is all about creating a positive workspace.
“I want my sets to be really professional — we’re not here to tolerate a bunch of dilly-dallying or bulls**t,” she said.
“I want sets that I work on to be places that people can ask any question and get it answered, where we can hold ourselves to a degree of excellence as a challenge, not as a threat, and where it can just be fun,” Bush concluded.
