Inside the One Tree Hill Cast's Real-Life Romances: Who Dated Whom, Then and Now

One Tree Hill didn’t just manufacture chaos on screen — the off-screen romances were just as tangled, and sometimes way more awkward.

"Sometimes all you need is one — but it may take a while to get there."

The show launched in 2003 on The WB (and later rolled over to The CW), and right out of the gate, the set turned into a real-life dating zone. Case in point: Sophia Bush and Chad Michael Murray started seeing each other as the series took off — while their characters, Brooke Davis and Lucas Scott, were also paired up on TV. Art imitating life, or vice versa.

Murray popped the question in 2004, and they tied the knot in April 2005. Five months later, it was over. The complicated part? They still had to keep playing nice at work. Despite the split — which was, by all accounts, messy — they continued filming together until his exit in 2009. If you’ve ever tried to be professional around an ex, multiply that by network TV and a room full of publicists.

Not everyone coupled up within the OTH bubble. Hilarie Burton Morgan found her person off set and married Jeffrey Dean Morgan. And Stephen Colletti took his time; he married Alex Weaver in 2025.

The quick version

• The show premiered in 2003 on The WB (later airing on The CW).
• Sophia Bush and Chad Michael Murray dated during the series; their characters, Brooke and Lucas, were also a couple on screen.
• Murray proposed in 2004; they married in April 2005 and split five months later.
• They kept working together until his departure from the show in 2009.
• Hilarie Burton Morgan married Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
• Stephen Colletti married Alex Weaver in 2025.

So yes — the show where teens got married in high school also gave us a real-life engagement, a blink-and-you-miss-it marriage, and a few happily-ever-afters that happened far from Tree Hill. Fitting.