Sophia Bush speaks out on being 'mistreated, abused' on hit Chicago P.D

Sophia Bush has spoken out about her experience on Chicago P.D. Photo / Getty Images

Sophia Bush has spoken out about the "abuse" and "mistreatment" she suffered on the set of her hit US TV show Chicago P.D.

The 36-year-old portrayed Detective Erin Lindsay on the drama series, but quit, departing the series in May 2017 after the Season 4 finale despite having signed a seven-season deal.

She told the New York Post: "I quit because, what I've learned is I've been so programmed to be a good girl and to be a workhorse and be a tugboat that I have always prioritised tugging the ship for the crew, for the show, for the group, ahead of my own health."

"The reality was that my body was, like, falling apart, because I was really, really unhappy."

She said despite how miserable she was, she pushed through for the sake of everyone else on the production.

"I internalised and sort of like, inhabited that role of 'pull the tugboat' to the point where just because I'm unhappy or being mistreated or I'm being abused at work, I'm not gonna f**k this job up for all these people and what about the camera guy whose two daughters I love and this is how he pays their rent.

"It becomes such a big thing. When your bosses tell you that if you raise a ruckus, you'll cost everyone their job, and you believe them."

Eventually, she was forced to approach her bosses to air things out but was "told to stop".

'I said, 'Okay, you can put me in the position of going quietly of my own accord or you can put me in the position of suing the network to get me out of my deal and I'll write an op-ed for The New York Times and tell them why,'" Bush said.

"Nearing my tenure there, I was probably difficult to be around because I was in so much pain and I felt so ignored," Bush explained.

This follows Bush's time on One Tree Hill, in which she and other female co-stars and crew members accused creator Mark Schwahn of sexual misconduct last year.

However as bad a situation as that was, she says it was different because Schwahn lived in LA but the show was filmed in North Carolina.

"Eighty per cent of the time we were on set loving our experience and each other and then he would come to town and it'd be like, 'Watch out for f***ing Handsy McHandsy over there.'

"There was a lot that was inappropriate but it wasn't all the time … it wasn't the same. One was like, a guy who we're like, 'Oh God, he's back.' And one was a consistent onslaught barrage of abusive behaviour," Bush said.

"You start to lose your way when someone assaults you in a room full of people and everyone literally looks away, looks at the floor, looks at the ceiling, and you're the one woman in the room and every man who's twice your size doesn't do something."