The Most Tragic Details Hallmark Star Bethany Joy Lenz Has Revealed About Her Time In A Cult

Bethany Joy Lenz may currently be known for spreading Christmas magic on the Hallmark channel, starring in films like "The Christmas Secret" and "Five Star Christmas," and before that for her captivating portrayal of Haley James Scott on the smash hit television show "One Tree Hill," but since the release of her memoir "Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show," she's been making headlines for something else entirely. As it turns out, the popular actress spent a decade as a member of a religious cult that she refers to as The Big House Family, and she's finally ready to talk candidly about her experience –- the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Surprisingly, Lenz is not the first well-known CW actress to find herself caught up in a cult. Allison Mack of "Smallville" sent Twitter into a tizzy when she reported for prison in 2023 due to pleading guilty to racketeering conspiracy in a case associated with a cult known as NXIVM. Mack surrendered herself to authorities and is currently serving a three-year stint after being charged with crimes that included sex trafficking, forced labor, and wire fraud.

While Lenz's story may seem far less sinister, the Hallmark leading lady has been very clear about the tragic impact that her involvement with The Big House Family has had on her life. The "Royal Matchmaker" star is putting the shame she feels over her involvement with the organization to rest and hoping that coming forward with her experience will help others from suffering a similar fate. Read on to learn how 10 years with the cult impacted every aspect of the actor's well-being, from her familial and romantic relationships to her personal finances.

We now know that while Bethany Joy Lenz graced our television screens for nine drama-filled seasons of "One Tree Hill," she harbored the open secret of participating in a cult that was controlling not only her career but her personal life. Sparks flew between the actor and one of her co-stars from the teen drama on and off the screen, but the tragic reason Lenz dumped her ex, Tyler Hilton, is finally coming to light.

While showrunners never intended for Hilton's Chris Keller and Lenz's Haley James Scott to be close, they ended up taking a cue from the actors' real-life relationship. Hilton revealed that it wasn't life that began to imitate art but rather the other way around. "We really fell for each other," he said onstage during a concert in November of 2024 (via TikTok). "The producers on the show were like, 'We should write this into the show.'"

The singer-songwriter fell so hard that although he suspected Lenz was a member of a cult, he was down bad enough to overlook it. "Every once in a while, I would get cult vibes. So I was really into her though, and I was like, 'Dude, I'm down with cult, I don't care about that s***,'" the musician shared with his audience. But it wasn't meant to be, mainly because the cult decided that the pair wasn't an appropriate match. "They came out to [our] show in Portland, and they sussed me out. And they were like, 'Yeah, he's not the vibe.' And she was like, 'Yeah, the cult said no,'" Hilton concluded, describing the final nail in the coffin of their young relationship. Lenz's former flame even wrote a song about their breakup that aired in an episode.

Not only did The Big House Family prevent Bethany Joy Lenz from dating men she was romantically interested in –- the organization actively set out to arrange a match for her, and it ended up being with the cult leader's son. "We didn't have a lot in common. There wasn't a lot of intellectual stimulation," she revealed to Alex Cooper on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast in October of 2024. "I mean, I kind of ran out of options. I couldn't date a non-Christian, I couldn't really date anyone outside of the group, so it just became this sort of arranged situation." The two were married for seven years until Lenz left the cult in 2012.

After saving herself for marriage despite "a crazy sex drive," the actor admitted she didn't ever harbor sexual attraction for her husband, who she referred to as "QB" in her memoir. Although she described their relationship as "easy and playful," to Cooper, that never translated to the bedroom. "I take marriage seriously, and I made a promise before God," she explained. "So, I hated it, but I was like, okay, if this is what I'm supposed to do."

The couple's lack of intimacy was an issue that the cult became actively involved in attempting to solve. "Because I was so disinterested in sex, I was then asked to go on a schedule, basically, of like... you just have to do it," Lenz continued. "Just do it. This is your duty, this is your job as a wife, your emotions will fall in line ... Then eventually you will find a way to enjoy it, you will find a way to feel connected." Lenz credits this rigid framework with causing PTSD in her future relationships.

One of the most heartbreaking details that is shared by most people who survive a cult is being separated or isolated from their former life. So, it's no wonder that fans were left wondering whatever happened to Bethany Joy Lenz while she was in the thick of her entanglement with The Big House Family. It wasn't just the public that noticed the change — the star revealed to Alex Cooper on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast that she didn't speak with her own father for six years due to his lack of support in her involvement with the high demand group.

Lenz regrets the time she lost with her family and shared her feelings on the matter with Tommy DiDario on the "I've Never Said This Before" podcast. "I'm still scared of having vulnerable conversations with my parents ... I don't know if I've ever just flat-out said to my parents, 'I'm sorry for what I put you through in those 10 years.' I think we've danced around versions of that, but I don't think I've ever just flat-out said that" she admitted.

"Mom, Dad, I'm really sorry for what I put you through for those 10 years," she reiterated. "It's been a while out of it now, but ... Thank you for sticking by me and for your patience and grace," she continued, indicating she finally intended to repeat the sentiment to her parents directly.

Not only did the cult wreak havoc on Bethany Joy Lenz's personal relationships, it all but destroyed her bank account, including her earnings from nine seasons on "One Tree Hill." She shared with Alex Cooper on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast that the trouble began when she got married and merged her finances with her new husband, who also happened to be the cult leader's son. Although she had banked in the neighborhood of $2 million from her days on the hit show, she believed it was the duty of a Christian wife to take that step as a married couple.

The "A Biltmore Christmas" star claims that almost everything was drained from the account without her knowledge, leaving her with $250,000 to spare. Although she acknowledges that is a significant amount of money, her legal fees rang in at $350,000, placing her in substantial debt while she was attempting to begin a new life with her daughter. "There's a part of me that's still like, 'Oh, God, it's so gauche to talk about money. Don't. And there are so many people who would never even imagine seeing that kind of money, let alone what I was left with in the bank account, which, eventually, all just went to lawyers anyway. But it was hard. It was very hard," she told People in October of 2024.

Luckily, Lenz found a place to land in the industry within the realms of heartwarming holiday films, and she's not the only "One Tree Hill" star who went on to be in Hallmark movies. Hilarie Burton and Chad Michael Murray also found homes on the popular network for a time.

Hallmark star Bethany Joy Lenz's daughter Maria is growing up to look just like her, and it's the actor's thoughts of her child's future that finally provided the "One Tree Hill" alum with enough courage to leave The Big House Family. "I remember having this thought. I said, 'I don't know what's wrong with me and why I will allow myself to be treated this way, but there's no way in hell I'm going to allow this to happen to her. We gotta get out,'" she shared on "GMA."

After ten years in the cult, the "Pearson" star had to learn who she was without the organization when she chose to leave it in 2012. Since that was shortly after the end of "One Tree Hill," which took up roughly the same decade of her life, Lenz understandably experienced a significant blow to her identity. "To leave a TV show after nine seasons, to leave all my friends [from the cult] that I had known for the last 10 years, to leave my marriage, to leave the state, all at the same time... it was legitimately incredibly difficult," she told People. 

Destabilized financially, she set out to begin again, luckily in an industry where she had already achieved a certain level of success. "I'm going to show up every day for myself, for the people I know. I'm going to peel off the costume, take off the makeup, and just start from scratch and figure out who I am," she said on the "Rooted Recovery Stories with Patrick Custer" podcast. With at least seven Hallmark movies under her belt, we think it's safe to say she found her way back.