close
close

Bethany Joy Lenz from “One Tree Hill” tells a cult story in her memoir

Posted on by Kennedy
Bethany Joy Lenz from “One Tree Hill” tells a cult story in her memoir

play

Not Bethany Joy Lenz mean Be part of a cult. Maybe no one really does.

But the former “One Tree Hill” star says she fell victim to the “Big House Family,” the religious cult that is the focus of her memoir, “Dinner for Vampires,” out Tuesday (Simon & Schuster, 303 pages). . She was a member for 10 years, which overlapped with her time on the hit teen soap. It's the kind of thing that makes you gasp: “What do you mean Haley from 'One Tree Hill' was in a cult?!” “Like NXIVM?” “What happened?”

As she puts it in the book, “The Bible study went wrong.”

Lenz, 43, spoke about the group on the “One Tree Hill” rewatch podcast “Drama Queens” last year. Of course, this caused quite a stir – including among a publisher. She poured out her heart at a rapid pace.

“It wasn't too painful, especially because I just didn't have time to process a lot of emotions,” she says over Zoom from Nashville. “It got difficult after I submitted the first main draft, and then we started figuring things out and really refining and shaping them. That's when it started to feel emotional. I had a few days where I thought, “I” have to stop. I can't live in this world anymore, I need to go out for a drink or go to the mall or just do something normal.

Her cool, calm voice sings through the screen. She still struggles with “trust issues” that further complicate relationships with her daughter, her boyfriend and her parents. “There’s a lot to unravel, but I’m grateful for it,” she says.

“Then everything really turned around.”

Lenz grew up as an only child in a charismatic Protestant environment. With so much turmoil in her household — from her divorced parents to a budding Hollywood career on the soap opera “Guiding Light” — she sought community and a sense of belonging with other Christians.

“When it started, it was very harmless,” she says. “Just a group of artists who loved God and wanted to read the Bible together. I thought, 'Oh, thank God. I was thirsty for it.'” Then a pastor from another state slowly joined the group until he became its leader.

“That’s when things really turned around,” she says of the man, whom she doesn’t name in the book. “But it happened so slowly that I just didn’t notice it at first.”

Through a series of actions that she says built her up and then tore her down, the group isolated her from her loved ones, including her parents. The leader thwarted her dream of playing Belle in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, and the group's financial managers spent $2 million of her money on risky investments, leaving her virtually broke. Incessant whispers erupted on the set of One Tree Hill and spread throughout the entertainment industry. She married the leader's son – even though she knew he wasn't the right man for her, she says – and gave birth to a daughter.

Over the course of a decade, Lenz slowly freed himself from leadership and control. A physical reprieve (she was able to leave the group during filming) and emotional support from peers and family helped her find herself again. The desire to protect her daughter from a similar fate was the trigger for her to leave.

“In a strange way, there were a lot of good things.”

How can she reconcile what happened to her? Looking back, she said that perhaps missing out on Broadway wasn't so bad because “I didn't have the character development necessary to handle a career like that.” And I might have gotten such a bad reputation because I just didn't know how to be professional, not knowing how to be selfless. There were just so many things that I didn't know and that I had really, really learned in the ten years on One Tree Hill and the ten years that I was on Despite all the terrible things that happened, I learned to be a friend.

Wait, she sees a silver lining?

“In a strange way, a lot of good things came about, the pendulum just swung to the other end and then somehow found its way back to the middle.”

In case you missed it: One Tree Hill is being rebooted on Netflix with Sophia Bush and Hilarie Burton set to return

“Maybe it will help someone.”

Lenz built her bank balance and her independence through work. She took every acting role she could get to pay bills, lawyers, rent and the IRS.

“I was like a broke single mom in LA after 10 years on a TV show,” she says. “It was hard on my ego, but it was also hard because I was so creative. I wanted to be able to create things and use that money and then be able to fund my own projects, or take the time to do that. “I write my own projects and don't have to work and just focus on this custody agreement.

One role was a guest appearance on Grey's Anatomy, in which she played a domestic violence victim. Then-showrunner Krista Vernoff knew what Lenz had been through.

“Even though she knew that my ex had never physically abused me, she knew that I had experienced relationship abuse and that I could identify with this character that was going to be on 'Grey's Anatomy.'” She called and said: “Hey, is this too close to home? Or do you want to try?” And I said, “Yes, please.” It'll probably feel great to get some of that out of my system somehow, or at least I know I can tell the story authentically, and maybe it'll help someone .'”

Sigh: Bethany Joy Lenz says her 'One Tree Hill' co-stars tried to save her from the 'secret life' in the cult

Bethany Joy Lenz on learning to love her younger self

With a planned remake of One Tree Hill starring Sophia Bush and Hilarie Burton, would Lenz also consider reprising her character?

A non-answer will have to suffice for now: “'Tree Hill' will always be my home, and I always enjoy going back there. So I'm open. There are just so many other logistical pieces that have to fit together.”

The Drama Queens podcast and writing her story healed her in a special, surreal way.

“It was a wonderful way to go back and look at a time in my life that I used to view with so much shame and be able to look at my young self and learn to love it,” she says .

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *