November is here, which means it's now officially the most wonderful time of the year: Hallmark Christmas Movie season! One of their earliest and most exciting offerings is this weekend’s Road to Christmas which stars Chad Michael Murray in his first-ever Hallmark Christmas movie. Jessy Schram plays Maggie, a producer who falls for Murray's Danny, the son of a TV legend. The story follows Maggie as she tries to reunite Danny's family during a live holiday broadcast.
In real life, Murray, 37, has seen his fair share of romantic drama just like his character. But also like the film he's now starring in, it all comes to a close with a happy ending. Here’s everything you need to know about Murray's road to becoming a husband and father.
Chad Michael Murray and Sophia Bush
Murray and Bush both starred on The CW’s long-running soap, One Tree Hill, playing Lucas Scott and Brooke Davis, respectively. Their characters had a tumultuous on-screen romance, but they were also involved in real life, too. They dated for almost two years before marrying in April of 2005 in Santa Monica, California. The marriage lasted five months before the couple split, and Bush filed for an annulment in March of 2016, citing “fraud,” according to People. Bush was ultimately granted a divorce instead.
While Murray has largely remained quiet about the marriage, Bush has recently opened up about the impact it had on her life. “The trauma of it was amplified by how public it became, which was incredibly foreign and bizarre to a girl who’d been just another college kid 24 months before her life blew up,” Bush wrote in a Cosmopolitan essay last year. During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Bush also said that she and Murray were “two stupid kids who had no business being in a relationship in the first place.’
In response to this, Murray issued a statement through a spokesperson: “Chad conducts himself in a completely professional manner and would never marry for any reason but love," his rep told People. "Thirteen years since his divorce from Sophia, he has a very happy family life with his wife and children. He has completely moved on and doesn't feel the need to engage in this type of behavior."
Chad Michael Murray and Kenzie Dalton
In 2006, months before his divorce from Bush was finalized, Murray proposed to One Tree Hill extra Kenzie Dalton, who was 18 at the time.
“She’s a little stunner,” Murray gushed to Us Weekly in a 2012 interview. “She is a sweetheart. She is my best friend and we have been together a long time." But the following year, the couple parted ways after a seven-year engagement. “Chad Michael Murray and Kenzie Dalton quietly parted ways earlier in the year," a spokesperson confirmed to Us in a statement.
Chad Michael Murray and Wife Sarah Roemer
In 2014, Murray began a relationship with Sarah Roemer, his co-star on the Crackle original series, Chosen. The couple married in secret early in 2015, and in May of that year they welcomed their first child, son Rex. In March of 2017, their daughter was born.
Though there have been some more ups and downs between Bush and Murray recently, the actor cleared up any doubts about his happy family life in one tweet. “Do u know what I do every morning? Wake in my loving family’s embrace, make coffee & breakfast 4 the kiddos with my wife. Read 1-2 chapters in the Bible 2 start the day off right. Then we plan how 2 fill the day with love 4 my family & brethren. It’s so simple yet so fulfilling," he said.
Emma Dibdin is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles who writes about culture, mental health, and true crime. She loves owls, hates cilantro, and can find the queer subtext in literally anything.
