A 00s TV star has spoken about being confronted by a ‘black spot’ by a co-star who realized he was in a cult.
While starring as Haley on One Tree Hill, 43-year-old Bethany Joy Lenz lives a double life in a small ultra-Christian group led by a corrupt pastor in Idaho.
The cult leader controls her career, life choices and bank account – which her friends, including Sophia Bush and Chad Michael Murray, know.
‘I can see it in your face,’ Bethany told People. ‘But I justified it, like, “I can’t be a cult. It’s just that I have access to a relationship with God and humanity in a way that other people want, but they don’t know how to get it.
The Dexter actress said during filming that Craig Sheffer, who played Keith on One Tree Hill for three seasons before he was killed, reminded her of being in a cult.
Bethany told him: ‘I was like, “No, no, no. Cults are weird. Cults are people in capes saying crazy things and drinking Kool-Aid. that’s not what we do”.’
Bethany said she wanted to leave the cult in 2012 which she first joined at age 20 through a Bible study group in LA.
When he came out, he said: ‘The shop is very high. He is my only friend. I got married in this group. I have built my whole life around it. If I admit I’m wrong … everything else will fall apart.’
Bethany has now written about her experience being in a cult in her memoir Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While Also Being in a Real Cult!) released on October 22nd.
Last year, 00s TV star Allison Mack was released from prison after serving two years of a three-year sentence.
The Smallville star was jailed for his role in a sex-trafficking case tied to NXIVM, a cult-like group. He has pleaded guilty to manipulating women into sex slaves for Keith Raniere, the leader of NXIVM.
The day before her sentencing, the star apologized to the victims.
“Right now it’s very important for me to say, from the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry,” Mack wrote in a letter to the judge days after giving prosecutors a recording of Raniere discussing the branding ritual.
‘I threw myself into Keith Raniere’s teachings with everything I had. I believe, wholeheartedly, that her guidance is leading me to a better and more enlightened version of myself.’
Mack added in a letter obtained by E! News: ‘I devote my loyalty, my resources, and, ultimately, my life to him. This is the biggest mistake and regret of my life.’
Set in the fictional town of Tree Hill, North Carolina, One Tree Hill initially follows the lives of two half-brothers, Lucas (Chad) and Nathan Scott (James Lafferty), who compete for positions on the school basketball team and romantic relationships. .
Bethany starred in One Tree Hill for nine seasons from 2003 to 2012.
He went on to star in TV shows including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Dexter, Agents of SHIELD, and Grey’s Anatomy.
From 2021 she also co-hosts the Drama Queens podcast alongside former One Tree Hill stars Sophia and Hilarie Burton Morgan.
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