‘One Tree Hill’ star Bethany Joy Lenz discusses cult past

Photo: David Becker/Getty Images for iHeartRadio

Bethany Joy Lenz, best known for playing Haley James Scott One Tree Hill, is writing a book about the decade she spent in a religious cult. If that immediately prompts you to ask a few questions, you’re in luck. Although the book has yet to be released, Lenz recently opened up about her experience in an extended interview with her diverse. According to Lenz, the One Tree Hill The cast and crew were aware of her cult membership while working on the WB makeover of the CW teen soap. “For a while, they were all trying to bail me out and save me, and it’s so amazing and amazing to be taken care of in that way,” Lenz recalled. “But I was very stubborn. I was really committed to what I thought were the best choices I could make.”

Lenz called the cult leader a “sociopath”, stating that he reminded her so much of NXIVM’s Keith Ranier that she was Sarah Edmundson after watching her vow To talk about the similarities. According to Lenz, the group began as a home Bible study in Los Angeles. She said it encourages isolation and distrust of non-members, which just goes beyond her One Tree Hill Co-stars – For Lanez, one of the most “painful, shameful, and difficult” parts is that she has distanced herself from friends and family, missing out on so many major life events. Her devotion to the cult also caused her to turn down opportunities to star in “blockbusters” and Broadway shows at the height of her career, she said. “Everything I trained for, all my childhood dreams were coming true and I said no to everyone so I could live with this small, remote group of people, convinced I was making a noble spiritual sacrifice,” she recalled. . “I will tell you, any group that requires you to believe every detail of what they believe in order to be loved without condemnation… Please evade the other way. Just run.”

Linz left the sect “after a very short time.” One Tree Hill It ended in 2012. It helped that the show kept her in North Carolina for nine months out of the year, she said, reflecting that “spatial separation made all the difference when it was time to get up.” Motherhood was also a factor. But even after she got out, her time in the sect continued to affect her. Lenz said she struggled with trusting others, as well as her own judgment.

Still, she hopes something good will come out of sharing her story. The actress said she plans to publish as many “dirty details” in her book as possible without doing any harm, hoping to let readers know if people are behaving similarly in their lives. “I just want to get every ounce of help out of this experience,” Lenz concluded. “I want this experiment to be just the biggest lemon ever. Let me squeeze all the juice for everyone—we’ll make some lemonade.”