Heavy/Getty Chad Michael Murray
Five weeks after actor Chad Michael Murray‘s ex-girlfriend, entrepreneur Erin Foster, publicly accused him of cheating on her with actress Sophia Bush, the former Hallmark star has broken his silence.
“I have more regrets in my life than I care to think about,” Murray told E! News on November 27, 2023. “But I don’t live in the past.”
Foster and Murray dated and lived together from 2001 to 2002, according to Entertainment Tonight. On the October 19 episode of “The World’s First Podcast,” a show Foster co-hosts with her sister, she confirmed a rumor published by gossip site Deux Moi that Murray had begun dating Bush, his former “One Tree Hill” co-star, while he and Foster were still together.
“He definitely did cheat on me with her in, like, a pretty egregious way while we were living together,” she confirmed on the podcast, and then sarcastically quipped, “Pretty cool.”
Though fellow “One Tree Hill” star Hilarie Burton took to social media to stick up for Bush, who’s still her best friend, Murray has stayed mum on the topic until now.
Here’s what you need to know:
Chad Michael Murray Says He Wants to Focus on the Future
Heavy/GettyErin Foster, Chad Michael Murray
When asked by E! News about Foster’s comments and the media buzz that followed, Murray didn’t confirm or deny the cheating allegation. Rather, he said he’d prefer not to dwell on the past.
“It’s not one of those things that I want to go down the road of because there’s just never a winner,” he said. “I feel blessed to be where I am right now.”
Though Murray and Bush wound up marrying in 2005, they broke up five months later, per People, and finalized their divorce in December 2006. Murray was accused of cheating then, too, when Backstreet Boy Nick Carter said his then-girlfriend, socialite Paris Hilton, had an affair with Murray, according to TMZ.
“I have more regrets in my life than I care to think about, but I don’t live in the past,” Murray told E! News this week. “I try to move forward every single day and just go, ‘I got air in my lung, life in my step, the will to move forward and the sun’s gonna rise on a beautiful tomorrow.'”
“I live in the now, I live in the present, I live in the future,” he said. “Things have changed so dramatically for me since I was a young man that I just try to live in this space—always. So, I don’t think you’ll ever find me saying anything negative or hurtful about anybody. I never will. That’s just not me. I’m not going to do it.”
Burton, however, felt like she needed to speak up for Bush as the cheating scandal made headlines in October. In her Instagram Stories, she shared one of the news stories and wrote that she had a different recollection of the circumstances.
“We were all told you’d broken up which is why our guy was perusing (sic) her,” she wrote. “Now this is being spun to make my sister look like a brazen harlot. And if she’s anyone’s harlot, she’s mine!”
Chad Michael Murray & Erin Foster Both Say They’ve Moved On
Murray, now 42, announced in January 2015 that he and actress Sarah Roemer had married and were expecting their first child together, per People. The couple now has three kids together — a son born in 2015, a daughter born in 2017, and a second daughter born in August 2023.
Foster, who’s the daughter of music producer David Foster, has also moved on, marrying businessman Simon Tikhman on New Year’s Eve in 2020, according to Vogue.
After accusing Murray of cheating over 20 years ago, Foster said on her podcast, “I’ve moved on though, I’m over it now.”
She then sarcastically added, “I mean, just barely. Just barely over it.”
Professionally, Murray seems to have also moved on from making Hallmark movies. Murray joined the network in 2018 and made multiple films, but his last Hallmark project was the August 2021 movie “Sand Dollar Cove.” His movies still air fairly frequently on the network, though, including “Write Before Christmas,” airing midday on November 28, “Road to Christmas,” which airs next on December 2.
Murray now stars on the CW series “Sullivan’s Crossing” and his latest TV movie is “Christmas on Windmill Way” on Great American Family.