One Tree Hill star Bethany has spoken about being in a cult while she was filming the series (Image: None)Get daily celeb exclusives and behind the scenes house tours direct to your inboxMore Newsletters SubscribePlease enter a valid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later.More NewslettersWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More infoThank you for subscribing!We have more newslettersShow me See OurPrivacy Notice See OurPrivacy Notice×Group 28 Get daily celeb exclusives and behind the scenes house tours direct to your inboxInvalid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later.Sign UpNo thanks, closeWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info×Group 28Thank you for subscribing!We have more newslettersShow MeNo thanks, closeSee our
Privacy NoticeBethany Joy Lenz, the actress and singer best known for her role as Haley in One Tree Hill, has spoken out about her time in a cult in her new memoir, Dinner For Vampires. The 43 year old says she was part of the religious cult for 10 years, during filming of the hit teen series, and that her fellow cast members “were all trying to save and rescue me.” From 2003 until 2012, Bethany starred alongside Chad Michael Murray, Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton and James Lafferty in the drama series set in the fictional North Carolina town of Tree Hill. However, in an interview with People to promote her book, Bethany has revealed that at the same time she was achieving stardom, she was devoted to a small ultra-Christian group run by a pastor in Idaho who controlled her career, her life decisions and even her bank account.
Bethany starred as Haley in One Tree Hill for 11 years
(Image: Warner Br/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)
She initially came into contact with the group when she moved to LA when she was 20. “I had always been looking for a place to belong,” she said, describing the group as “water in a desert” for her when she joined. A visiting pastor changed the dynamic of the group when he convinced members to move to a commune-like home in Idaho, but Bethany went along with it. “It still looked normal. And then it just morphed. But by the time it started morphing, I was too far into the relationships to notice. Plus, I was so young.” She has also previously described the experience as “abusive” and revealed she had a “huge fear that I’d be seen publicly or by casting directors as ‘that girl who was in a cult’” if she spoke about it. In the People interview Bethany says that her co-stars did recognise she was in a cult. “I could see it on their faces. But I’d justify it, like, ‘I couldn’t possibly be in a cult. It’s just that I’ve got access to a relationship with God and people in a way that everybody else wants, but they don’t know how to get it.'” Sign up to OK!’s TV newsletter to get updates sent to your inbox for free
Bethany has written a book about her cult experience
(Image: AFF-USA/REX/Shutterstock)
Bethany also spoke about marrying a fellow member of the group, musician Michael Galeotti, with whom she shares daughter Maria Rose, who is now 13. In her book’s description, it says how she moved to the group’s compound: “overseen by a domineering minister who would convince Lenz to marry one of his sons and steadily drained millions of her TV income without her knowledge.” Michael and Bethany split in 2012 at the same time that she left the organisation. The description of Dinner For Vampires notes: “Only when she became a mother did Lenz find the courage to leave and spare her child from a similar fate. After nearly a decade (and with the unlikely help of a One Tree Hill superfan), she finally managed to escape the family’s grip and begin to heal from the deep trauma that forever altered her relationship with God and her understanding of faith.” Her husband Michael sadly died four years later at the age of just 31 from heart disease. In an interview with Variety, Bethany explained why she has written about her experiences. “Why I wanted to talk about it is because I think it can be really healing for a lot of other people. I know I’m not the only one. What good are our painful experiences if we just lock them away and pretend like everything’s perfect? That’s not doing anybody any good.”Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnChad Michael MurrayHilarie BurtonIn the NewsNostalgiaWhere Are They Now
