Chad Michael Murray stood up for Hilarie Burton after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by their “One Tree Hill” boss.
On Wednesday’s episode of her “Drama Queens” podcast with Sophia Bush and Bethany Joy Lenz, the actress claimed her co-star confronted the man, whose name she did not reveal, after he allegedly “grab[bed her] in front of” other people.
“Chad walked up and goes, ‘What are you doing?’ He said that to our boss in the bar,” the “White Collar” alum said, noting that the actor, 41, didn’t have “anything to lose.”
She explained, “He knew our boss hated him anyway.”
Bush, 40, agreed, saying that Murray was “protected as the No. 1 on the call sheet” with the “most power” to speak up.
“He could come up and shove our boss off you and get in a fight. And I’m glad that he did,” the “Chicago P.D.” alum said. “I want everybody to follow that lead.”
Murray has yet to respond to Page Six’s request for comment on the alleged confrontation.
In August 2021, Burton praised him for “defend[ing]” her before they both exited the show in Season 6.
“We were both treated badly, and … Chad was my teammate,” she tweeted at the time. “My bosses were the s–ts.”
Burton, who is married to Jeffrey Dean Morgan, also claimed on Wednesday that her unnamed boss assaulted her on a flight and during a car ride after a trip to Honey Grove, Texas, for Episode 17 of Season 4.
“I didn’t know how to process it anymore,” she recalled. “My reaction to that kind of stuff is to not let it ruin my good time.”
Burton claimed that her aggressor later told her co-star Danneel Harris they “made out.”
She called this an attempt to “make her jealous,” as Harris was dating now-husband Jensen Ackles after rejecting her boss’ advances.
Bush claimed that Harris told the boss, “Please stop hitting on me and please stop touching me and please stop trying to make out with me at bars. I’m very uncomfortable.”
She praised the 43-year-old actress for requesting the “bare f–king minimum” on set.
Bush went on to denounce the man’s alleged “creepy,” “horrific” and “unacceptable” behavior toward her friends.
While she and Burton did not name the man in question, Burton has previously gone on record accusing Mark Schwahn of “grooming” her.
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In 2020, Burton wrote in her “Rural Diaries” memoir that she “never tried to tell the truth” about him upon leaving “One Tree Hill” in 2009 because she was a “coward.”
However, she went on record slamming Schwahn for his alleged harassment eight years later.
Burton and 17 other women who worked on the show formally accused Schwahn of sexual assault in a November 2017 letter to Variety. Schwahn, 56, was subsequently fired from “The Royals.”
Schwahn did not comment at the time, and it appears, the producer has not addressed the allegations since.
Burton and her “Drama Queen” co-hosts did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment on the identity of the man they spoke of Wednesday.