Bethany Joy Lenz Says ‘One Tree Hill’ Cast Tried to ‘Save’ Her from Cult

Bethany Pleasure Lenz is grateful that the forged and crew of One Tree Hill tried to get her out of a cult she belonged to whereas filming the present.

“For some time, they had been all attempting to save lots of me and rescue me, which is beautiful and so wonderful to be cared about in that method. However I used to be very cussed,” Lenz, now 42, stated in an interview with Selection revealed on Thursday, August 10. “I used to be actually dedicated to what I believed had been the perfect selections I may make. … The character of a gaggle like that’s isolation; they need to make you mistrust everybody round you in order that the one folks you belief are, at the beginning, the management after which, folks throughout the group if the management approves of them, and isn’t in the midst of pitting you in opposition to one another, which occurs on a regular basis additionally.”

Lenz defined that her involvement within the cult — an involvement she says was frequent information on the OTH set — started when she was in her early 20s, which was “a 12 months or two” after reserving the position of Haley James Scott on OTH in 2003. She didn’t escape the group till “shortly after” the teenager drama resulted in 2012.

Whereas Lenz has not shared the title of the group, she revealed it was a “bible-based cult.” The actress confessed she grew up in a Christian family and it was frequent for her to take part in “Wednesday evening bible research.” As she moved round to new cities and states, she would discover a bible examine to attend.

“In numerous methods, One Tree Hill saved my life, as a result of I used to be there 9 months out of the 12 months in North Carolina,” Lenz stated. “I had numerous flying backwards and forwards, lots of people visiting and issues like that, however my life was actually in-built North Carolina. And I believe that spatial separation made an enormous distinction when it was time for me to get up.”

Lenz first opened up about her expertise in a July episode of her OTH rewatch podcast “Drama Queens,” which she cohosts with former costars Sophia Bush and Hilarie Burton Morgan.

“I wasn’t attempting to make it an enormous deal. I used to be starting to really feel like I used to be hiding one thing as a result of it was such an integral a part of my private journey whereas I used to be on One Tree Hill,” she instructed Selection about her determination to talk out. “As we’re simply speaking about all of the behind-the-scenes [moments,] we preserve speaking about all of the instances everyone was hanging out. I preserve saying, ‘Want I had been there.’ Ultimately, it began to really feel like, ‘Why don’t you simply be trustworthy, Pleasure?’”

Since coming ahead, Lenz has stated she seems like she has overcome “the disgrace” she initially felt about her her membership within the cult.

“What I got here to appreciate was that there’s really numerous energy in exposing that disgrace to the sunshine and permitting new info to return in,” she stated. “And there’s not simply energy in that for me, however my hope is that — and actually why I wished to speak about it — is as a result of I believe it may be actually therapeutic for lots of different folks. I do know I’m not the one one.”