Hilarie Burton defends Sophia Bush against 'laughable' Erin Foster cheating claims

Hilarie Burton is standing up for her longtime friend Sophia Bush amid messy cheating rumors.

A day after TV writer and actress Erin Foster alleged on her podcast that One Tree Hill heartthrob Chad Michael Murray cheated on her with Bush in "a pretty egregious way" in the early 2000s, Burton wrote on social media that she remembers things differently.

"Ooof. Cringe. I got off my red eye flight home and multiple people had sent me this headline," Burton wrote in an Instagram Story posted Friday, atop a screenshot of an article about Foster's accusation. "As the person who had a front row seat then? This wasn't it."

She continued, "We were all told you'd broken up which is why our guy was perusing her. Now this is being spun to make my sister look like a brazen harlot. And if she's anyone's harlot, it's mine!"

Tagging Foster in the post, Burton wrote that she was "happy to discuss" the issue.

"You also deserve truth," she added. "There are so many unnamed sources making claims about the woman I love, so f--- it. I'll be a named source. Lotta internet voices being nasty, and as the person who knows the real timeline? It would be laughable if it wasn't so hurtful."

A representative for Foster didn't immediately respond to EW's request for comment Monday. A rep for Burton declined to comment further.

Burton, Bush, and Murray all starred together on the coming-of-age drama One Tree Hill, which premiered in 2003 and ran for nine seasons (though Murray and Burton departed after season 6). Murray and Bush started dating the same year the show debuted and married in 2005, only to announce their separation five months later. They were granted a divorce the following year.

Last week, Foster and her sister Sara discussed relationship gossip on their podcast, The World's First Podcast. Erin pointed out that the anonymous Instagram gossipmonger DeuxMoi recently featured an item on celebs you didn't know dated, which included her romance with Murray. The post said Murray "apparently cheated on [Foster] with Sophia Bush," which Foster co-signed on the podcast.

"I mean, yeah. He definitely did cheat on me with her, in like, a pretty egregious way," she said. "While we were living together. Pretty cool."

Murray and Foster started dating in 2001. She has been married to businessman Simon Tikhman since New Year's Even 2019 and quipped on her podcast, "I've moved on. I'm over it now. I mean, just barely. Just barely over it."

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