Hilarie Burton Says Chad Michael Murray Stood up for Her After ‘One Tree Hill’ Creator Allegedly Assaulted Her

One Tree Hill creator and showrunner Mark Schwahn has previously faced allegations of creating a “physically unsafe” and “traumatizing” workplace on the show, and now series star Hilarie Burton is sharing her own firsthand experience working with him.

Burton, who was joined by her One Tree Hill co-stars Sophia Bush and Bethanie Joy Lenz on the March 15 episode of their Drama Queens podcast, recounted an alleged assault by Schwahn while shooting on location in 2007. According to Burton, her co-star Chad Michael Murray stood up for her after Schwahn allegedly grabbed her in a bar in 2007.

“Chad walked up and goes, ‘What are you doing?’ He said that to our boss in the bar,” she said, per Deadline. “He watched our boss grab me in front of a lot of people, and you know, Chad didn’t have anything to lose, ’cause he knew our boss hated him, anyway.

“A lot of people had a lot to lose, so you don’t speak up when you have a lot to lose. But (our boss) felt so comfortable that that was not something that he had a problem with. (He thought), ‘I can do whatever I want to her in public with her boyfriend standing there,’” Burton said. 

Bush said Murray had a unique position as “number one on the call sheet,” which allowed him to stand up for Burton without fearing retaliation from Schwahn. 

“He had the most power, so he could come up and shove our boss off you and get in a fight. And I’m glad that he did. I want everybody to follow that lead,” Bush said. “This idea that looking at the ground is OK — it’s not. And thank God, Hilarie, that you had that moment with Chad, who was already so at odds with our boss.”

These are not the first allegations to come out about Schwahn. TV writer Audrey Wauchope came forward in 2017 in a series of tweets and an open letter from herself and other One Tree Hill cast and crew members. According to Wauchope, Schwahn was known for being inappropriate with the show’s female writers. She tweeted at the time, “He pet hair. He massaged shoulders. I know he did more but not to me so they’re not my stories to share.”

Burton tweeted her support, “Burn it down, sis. Love your bravery. I back your play 100%. Let’s talk.”

The letter issued by the show’s cast and crew called Schwahn’s behavior an “open secret” on set.

“Many of us were spoken to in ways that ran the spectrum from deeply upsetting, to traumatizing, to downright illegal,” the letter read. “And a few of us were put in positions where we felt physically unsafe.”

It described how many of the women were “manipulated psychologically and emotionally” and “put in uncomfortable positions” where they had to “learn to fight back, sometimes physically.”

The letter was signed by Bush, Burton, Lenz and a number of their fellow co-stars and crew members.

Schwahn was soon fired from The Royals, the E! television series he was working on at the time.