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Entertainment
Whatever happened to Chad Michael Murray?
17
Sep
Sep
During the heyday of WB teen TV, Chad Michael Murray was one of the most crushable actors. He had stints as bad boys on Gilmore Girls and Dawson’s Creek before starring for six seasons as a high school basketball player in small town soap One Tree Hill. But what’s he been up to since then? Here’s what happened to Chad Michael Murray.
He was briefly married to One Tree Hill co-star Sophia Bush
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When they were 24 and 23 years old, Chad Michael Murray and One Tree Hill co-star Sophia Bush got married. According to People, the pair had a Santa Monica oceanside wedding in April 2005. The marriage didn’t last, however, and the two separated just five months later.
Bush avoided discussing the marriage as much as possible over the next 10 years, but then wrote an essay in Cosmopolitan in 2017 detailing the difficult experience. She wrote, “In my 20s, when I was starting out my career as an actor, I wasn’t looking for a relationship, but one found me and became serious, even though I hadn’t planned to settle down until my 30s. But when the person you’re with asks you to marry him, you think: This must be happening because it’s supposed to.”
She explained that while the period was traumatic for her, she now has moved on and realized “that relationships often serve a specific purpose at a certain point in time.”
He was engaged to a One Tree Hill extra for seven years
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Soon after splitting from One Tree Hill co-star Sophia Bush, Chad Michael Murray got involved with (and planned to marry) a second actress from the show. In 2006, Murray got engaged to Kenzie Dalton, a cheerleading extra on OTH, who was then a high school senior. He proposed to Dalton before his divorced with Bush was even finalized.
They stayed together for seven years, but never ended up getting married and broke up in 2013. Before they parted ways, Murray told Us Weekly that Dalton was his “best friend” and “a little stunner.”
He joined the Marvel universe as Jack Thompson on Agent Carter
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These days, every actor dreams of nabbing an alter ego in the world of Marvel. (Well, except Jon Hamm.) Chad Michael Murray was one of the lucky few to nab an identity in the Marvel universe: Jack Thompson.
From 2015 to 2016, Murray appeared as Thompson in 14 out of the 18 total episodes of the ABC series Agent Carter, which focused on secret agent Peggy Carter from the Captain America movies. Murray played Agent Carter’s office nemesis, who later became her boss, and even later appeared to possibly die in a cliffhanger that was never resolved when the show was canceled after two seasons.
He married actress Sarah Roemer in 2015
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After two public engagements that didn’t work out, it makes sense that Murray married his next love completely under the radar. In 2015, Murray’s rep announced he had married actress Sarah Roemer, his co-star from the Crackle TV show Chosen, in a secret ceremony.
Murray explained to E! News why they kept their relationship details on down-low: “I’m a romantic. I’m a family guy. I want that core. I tend to keep everything quiet. I love my life. That’s the part that I keep for myself.”
He and Sarah Roemer have two kids
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Murray and wife Sarah Roemer are parents to two very small children, a son born in 2015 and a daughter born in 2017. Murray told Entertainment Tonight about how happy he is to be a dad, enthusing, “For me, it was the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me. Having kids is a game changer and I think you’re always walking around with the mentality that you want to make sure that they’re proud and you want to represent them well and just be a great leader.”
On his social media, you can often spot glimpses of Murray’s fathering in action, whether he’s tweeting a photo of himself having a staring contest with his son’s stuffed “bun bun” or sharing an Instagram photo of his newborn daughter’s tiny hand holding his own with the caption “Don’t worry little girl you can hold on as tight as you want for as long as you want, I’m already yours & I’ll never let go.”
He still pays tribute to One Tree Hill fans
Even though Murray decided to leave One Tree Hill three years before the show concluded in 2012, he still appreciates the show’s fans. In 2017, he attended the sixth annual Return to Tree Hill fan convention in Wilmington, North Carolina (where the show was filmed).
He took a photo in front of the bridge featured in the One Tree Hill opening credits and shared it on Instagram, where he wrote, “Who’s [sic] bridge? OUR BRIDGE! Wonder how many [basketball emoji] have accidentally bounced off & are living down below… #OTH“
He co-wrote a thriller, American Drifter, with bestselling author Heather Graham
Yes, your celebrity crush from 2002 is now a novelist. In November 2017, Chad Michael Murray’s debut book was released. Murray teamed up with author Heather Graham (not the actress, the prolific bestselling writer) to pen American Drifter, a romantic thriller about a young army veteran and a free-spirited journalist on the run from drug lords in Brazil.
Murray even reads the audiobook if you want to experience his writing and performing at the same time. After an event to celebrate the book’s release, Murray wrote on Instagram, “So humbled by all your support & love for this book. It’s an honor to bring it to you.”
He’s currently filming Hallmark movie The Beach House
In May 2018, you’ll be able to tune into the Hallmark Channel and watch CMM get sentimental. Chad Michael Murray is currently filming Hallmark Original Movie The Beach House with Friday Night Lights star Minka Kelly and Groundhog Day actress Andi Macdowell.
The movie, which is adapted from a Mary Alice Monroe novel, is about a woman who returns to her family’s beach house where she reconnects with her mother and saves hundreds of sea turtles during a bad storm. Macdowell, who stars as Cara Rutledge, has shared some dreamy photos and videos from the Georgia coast where the crew is filming.
He publicly supports the female cast members of One Tree Hill who have spoken out about the show creator’s harassment
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In November 2017, a number of women who worked on One Tree Hill publicly accused showrunner Mark Schwahn of inappropriate behavior. First, writer Audrey Wauchope wrote a series of tweets recounting Schwahn’s invasive touching and comments. She wrote in of her tweets: “The staff sat on couches. Female writers would try to get the spot where the showrunner wouldn’t sit as to not be touched. Often men would help out by sitting next to him, thus protecting the women.”
Soon after, 18 other women who worked on the show released a joint letter in support of Wauchope. The letter said in part, “Many of us were, to varying degrees, manipulated psychologically and emotionally. More than one of us is still in treatment for post-traumatic stress.”
Murray said he was “proud” of these women in a note he tweeted out. His message said, “The women of OTH have always been strong and incredible. Today they’ve made us all even more proud by standing as a beacon of what is right, and continuing to lead & change the atmosphere of society.”
