‘There’s a lot to tell!’ Bethany Joy Lenz reveals she spent 10 years in a cult

11 July 2023

Bethany Joy Lenz spent 10 years in a cult.

Bethany Joy Lenz spent 10 years in a cult

The ‘One Tree Hill’ actress, 42, opened up about her past for the first time on the Monday (10.07.23) episode of her ‘Drama Queens’ podcast, and said she would love to finish a book she has been writing about the ordeal and the decade of “recovery” it sparked.

She told her former ‘One Tree Hill’ co-stars Sophia Bush and Hilarie Burton Morgan, both 41, on the podcast: “I would love to write about my experience, you know, I was in a cult for 10 years.

“That would be a really valuable experience to write about, and the recovery – 10 years of recovery after that.

“So, there’s a lot to tell.”

Bethany added her “ADHD has made it really difficult over the years” to complete her book.

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But she insisted she is “really commit to putting it all together”.

She added: “I would love to write about my experience. The pressure of getting it right and everything having to be exactly real and all the people that are involved, and also I don’t know how much I can say because there are still people and legal things in place that make it more complicated for the timing of that.

“Also, I don’t know how much I can say because there are still people and legal things in place that make it more complicated for the timing of that.”

Bethany, who has daughter Maria Rose, 12, with ex-husband Michael Galeotti, 38, also hinted she wants to use her music as a creative outlet to expel pain from her past.

The trio have often delved into difficult subjects on the podcast, and a November 2022 episode featured Sophia and Hilarie claiming they were coerced into doing a sexy 2006 Maxim shoot by 57-year-old ‘One Tree Hill’ creator Mark Schwahn.

Sophia said: “At that time, I said, ‘No, I don’t want to do this,’ and I was told I had to.”

The actress also claimed she did not want to be on the set of the teen drama because it was “not a safe place for her”.

Five years after ‘One Tree Hill’ finished in 2012, a total of 18 women who worked on the show (including the four actors named above), came forward in a letter to Variety to accuse Mark of sexual harassment and he has never responded to the allegations.