Sophia Bush explains why she finally returned to network TV after 'poisoned' experiences on 'Chicago PD' and 'One Tree Hill' made her rethink her career choices

• Sophia Bush's negative experiences on NBC's "Chicago PD" and WB's "One Tree Hill" made her "rethink" doing network TV.
• Now leading on CBS' "Good Sam," Bush shows the cast and crew "empathy" and "deep respect."

Sophia Bush is now starring in the new CBS medical drama "Good Sam," which premiered on January 5, about five years after Bush left her starring role on NBC's police procedural, "Chicago PD" in 2017.

But it wasn't so easy for Bush to decide to return to network TV — largely because of the toxic workplace situations she says she experienced on the sets of "Chicago PD" and her earlier hit show, "One Tree Hill," a cult-classic teen drama that ran for nine seasons on the WB and then the CW from 2003 to 2012.

The "Love, Victor" actor recently told USA Today that the experiences she says she had on both "Chicago PD" and "One Tree Hill" were the reason why she began to consciously choose independent projects and roles on streaming networks like Hulu, in addition to putting her focus on working on two elections and launching two podcasts.

"It was a very jarring thing, to have the two longest-running jobs that I've done in my career be poisoned with this kind of behavior that ran the gamut of severity," she said. "It really made me rethink what I wanted to do."

In November 2017, Bush signed a letter with many of her former female "One Tree Hill" costars and crew members in solidarity with former coworker, Audrey Wauchope. In the letter, published by Variety, the women describe being "manipulated psychologically and emotionally" by "One Tree Hill" creator Mark Schwahn.

"Many of us were put in uncomfortable positions and had to swiftly learn to fight back, sometimes physically, because it was made clear to us that the supervisors in the room were not the protectors they were supposed to be," the letter reads, in part.

A representative for Schwahn didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Earlier that same year, Bush had departed "Chicago PD" after four seasons, with her character, Detective Erin Lindsay, making a final appearance in the season 4 finale that aired in May 2017. At the time, Bush didn't speak out about why she'd exited the hit NBC drama, but in December 2018, Bush opened up about the "abusive behavior" and assault she says she experienced on "Chicago PD" during an appearance on Dax Shepard's "Armchair Expert" podcast.

Bush told Shepard that her experience on "Chicago PD" was worse than "One Tree Hill" because Schwahn was a "bad dude" who "lived in LA" and most of the time she and her castmates were away from him on-set in Wilmington, North Carolina, where "One Tree Hill" was filmed, "loving our experience."

In contrast, she said her time on "Chicago PD" made her feel "like I was standing butt-naked, bruised, and bleeding in the middle of Times Square, screaming at the top of my lungs and not a single person stopped to ask if they could help me," she told Shepard in 2018.

Bush told USA Today in her Wednesday interview that she also didn't like how she'd felt "stuck" in her previous network-TV contract.

"I didn't want to be stuck on a set again. Because when you're stuck, you don't have any options. You don't have anywhere to go," she said.

According to USA Today, Bush has said in the past that even though she was ultimately able to exit the series at the end of season 4, when she'd first asked to depart "Chicago PD," NBC had told her there was "no way" she could leave the show early, since she'd signed a seven-year contract to appear on the drama.

A representative for NBC didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

But Bush did make the decision to return to network television after five years away, this time on CBS. And now that Bush is first on the call sheet for "Good Sam," she told TVLine in a separate interview, she's determined to do things differently.

Bush explained that it's important to her that everyone she works with feels comfortable on set, saying she's "incredibly proud to set the kind of tone on a set that does lead with empathy" and "leads with deep respect for every single person on it."

"Every single person on our set knows that they're valued, loved, and appreciated and knows that we do not take the effort that they make to create a show with us for granted ever," Bush added.

"Good Sam" airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on CBS.