TheseOne Tree HillStars Knew Bethany Joy Lenz Was in a Cult While Filming: 'You Know You're in a Cult, Right?' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

In an interview for a new cover story with PEOPLE, Lenz says that a year into starring as Haley James Scott on the popular teen drama, she was casually chatting with her costar Craig Sheffer in between takes.

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“We were sitting at the bleachers filming a basketball scene at Laney High School, and he started asking me questions about my family,” says Lenz, now 43.

“Eventually Craig goes, ‘You know you’re in a cult, right?'" Lenz says.

She laughed off the idea. “I was like, ‘No, no, no. Cults are weird. Cults are people in robes chanting crazy things and drinking Kool-Aid. That’s not what we do!'”

Craig Sheffer and daughter Willow arrive at the premiere of A Cinderella Story in 2004.Frank Trapper/Corbis/Getty

Frank Trapper/Corbis/Getty

It would take her eight more years before she saw the group she calls the “Family” for what they really were, and before she left for the sake of her daughter.

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But at the time, between acting and her commitment to the Family, Lenz began to feel like she was leading a double life. She says her cast mates were certainly cognizant of her ties to the religious group. There was even online chatter about it at the time.

Bethany Joy Lenz with Hilarie Burton and Sophia Bish.Bethany Joy Lenz/ Instagram

Bethany Joy Lenz/ Instagram

“I could see it on their faces,” she says of herOne Tree Hillcostars, about what they knew and thought about it.

“But I’d justify it, like, ‘I couldn’t possibly be in a cult,” Lenz explains. “It’s just that I’ve got access to a relationship with God and people in a way that everybody else really wants, but they don’t know how to get it.”

Bethany Joy Lenz Shot for PEOPLE.John Russo

John Russo

She adds that it gave her a feeling of superiority over everyone else.

“I don’t know that I like the term brainwashing. We convince ourselves of things all the time, and I think I just decided what I wanted to believe.”

In her book, Lenz writes that her religious devotion caused strain with most of the young stars on set.

“It makes me sad that I missed out on a lot of relationships I could have had with the cast and crew,” she says.

These days, she’s a regular atOne Tree Hillreunions and was also a part of theDrama Queensrewatch podcast withSophia BushandHilarie Burton. She’s still close with many of her costars, includingPaul Johansson.

“It makes me really happy that I get a chance to reconnect and do that with them now.”

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source: people.com