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    • Bethany Joy Lenz of ‘One Tree Hill’ tells the cult story in memoir
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    Bethany Joy Lenz of ‘One Tree Hill’ tells the cult story in memoir

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    Bethany Joy Lenz didn’t mean being part of a cult. Maybe no one really does.

    But the former ‘One Tree Hill’ star says she has fallen prey to the ‘Big House Family’, the religious cult at the center of her memoir ‘Dinner for Vampires’, out Tuesday (Simon & Schuster, 303 pp ). She was a member for ten years, which overlapped with her time on the popular 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, “Bible study went sideways.”

    Lenz, 43, spoke about the group on “One Tree Hill’s” podcast “Drama Queens” last year. Naturally, it pricked up the ears – including a publisher. She poured her heart out at breakneck speed.

    “It wasn’t too painful, mainly because I just didn’t have time to process a lot of emotions around it,” she says via Zoom from Nashville. “What became difficult was after I turned in the first major draft, and then we started working things out and really tightening it up and shaping it. That’s when it started to feel emotional. I had a few days where I was like, ‘ I’ve got to stop. I can’t live in this world anymore. I have to go out for a drink, go to the mall or just do something normal.'”

    Her cool, calm voice sings through the screen. She continues to deal with “trust issues,” which further complicate her relationship with her daughter, boyfriend and parents. “It’s a lot to untangle, but I’m grateful for it,” she says.

    ‘That’s when things really started to change’

    Lenz grew up as an only child in a charismatic Protestant environment. With 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 connection with other Christians.

    “It was very benign when it started,” she says. “Just a group of artists who loved God and wanted to read the Bible together. I thought, ‘Oh, thank God. I’ve been thirsty for this.'” Then a preacher from another state joined, slowly infiltrating. the group until he took over as leader.

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

    Through a series of actions she says built her up and then tore her down, the group isolated her from loved ones, including her parents. The leader thwarted her dreams 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, effectively bankrupting her. Incessant whispers broke out on the set of “One Tree Hill” and splashed through the entertainment industry. She married the leader’s son – even though she knew he wasn’t the right man for her, she says – and had a daughter.

    For more than a decade, Lenz slowly broke away from leadership and control. Having physical respite (she was able to leave the group during filming) and emotional support from peers and loved ones helped her find herself again. The desire to protect her daughter from a similar fate was her catalyst for leaving.

    ‘In a bizarre way there were a lot of good things’

    How does she reconcile what happened to her? Looking back, she said that missing out on Broadway might not have been such a bad thing because “I didn’t have the character development to handle a career like that. And I might have gotten such a bad reputation because I just didn’t know how to are.” professional, not knowing how to be selfless. There were so many things I didn’t know and wasn’t focused on. Those ten years on ‘One Tree Hill’ really taught me a lot, and the ten years I was in a situation. Despite all the terrible things that have happened, I have learned how to be a friend. I learned how to be in community.”

    Wait, she sees a silver lining?

    “In some bizarre way, a lot of good things came out of it, the pendulum swung all the way to the other end and then kind of found its way back to the middle.”

    In case you missed it: ‘One Tree Hill’ reboot in development at Netflix with Sophia Bush, and Hilarie Burton returning

    ‘Maybe it will help someone’

    Lenz built her bank balance and independence through work. She took on whatever acting roles she could get to pay the bills, lawyers, rent and taxes.

    “I felt like a broke single mom in LA after being on a TV series for 10 years,” 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 fund my own projects, or take the time off to do things.” write my own projects and don’t have to work and just focus on this custody arrangement.”

    One role was a guest appearance on “Grey’s Anatomy,” playing a victim of domestic violence. The showrunner at the time, Krista Vernoff, knew what Lenz had been through.

    “Although she knew that my ex never physically abused me, she knew that I had experienced relationship abuse and that I could relate to this character who was about to star in ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’ She called and said : ‘Hey, is this too close to home? Or do you want to give it a try?’ And I said, ‘Yes, please. Oh, this will probably feel great to be able to get some of this out of my system somehow, or at least I know I can tell the story authentically, and maybe I will it to help someone.”

    Sigh: Bethany Joy Lenz Says ‘One Tree Hill’ Costars Tried to Save Her From a ‘Secret Life’ in a Cult

    Bethany Joy Lenz on learning to love her younger self

    With a ‘One Tree Hill’ reboot in the works starring Sophia Bush and Hilarie Burton, would Lenz consider reprising her character as well?

    A non-answer will have to suffice for now: “‘Tree Hill’ will always be my home, and I always enjoy coming back. So I’m open to it. There are so many other logistical pieces that need to fall into place.”

    The “Drama Queens” podcast and writing her story have healed her in special, surreal ways.

    “It was a great way to look back at a time in my life that I looked at with so much shame, and to look at my young self and learn to love her,” she says.

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