One Tree Hill’s Bethany Joy Lenz is opening up about a period of her life her fans are unfamiliar with.
On this week’s new episode of her Drama Queens podcast she co-hosts with One Tree Hill co-stars Hilarie Burton Morgan and Sophia Bush, Lenz revealed she was in a cult at one point.
“I was in a cult for 10 years,” she shared.
“That would be a really valuable experience to write about, and the recovery,” Lenz said, adding that it took around ten years to recover.
“There’s a lot to tell,” the actress affirmed but revealed she wasn’t quite ready to tell about that period of her life.
Lenz would be interested in becoming an author and telling that story but believes there’s a lot of pressure to get the story right.
The Hayley James actress writes about her past all the time but is also worried about the legal ramifications of telling her story.
“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,” she stressed.
“But I do write. I write all the time,” she said.
“I think the ADHD has made it really difficult over the years to… I have lots of essays and lots of chapters and things,” the Pearson alum explained.
“But to really commit to putting it all together because I would love to write about my experience.”
Lenz and her co-stars have spoken out on the podcast about their time on the WB/CW drama.
The podcast launched in June 2021 and has featured various accounts from the stars working on the show that wrapped in 2012.
Bush opened up in January 2022 that the intent to launch the podcast surrounded their want to reclaim “our show.”
“It was about taking all of the joy and the power back and taking out the trash.”
She added, “And that that feels really, really nice to us. It’s allowed us to completely love our show.”
“And not to be cheesy, but it feels like it might be a model for healing for other people as well. Reclamation feels pretty badass, if I do say so myself.”
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.