While fans only recently learned that Bethany Joy Linz He was In the cult for 10 yearsIt wasn’t a secret on set, the actress says One Tree Hill.
“He was so open with them — it was a whisper behind the scenes, like, ‘You know, she’s in a cult,'” she said. diverse In an interview published Aug. 10. “For a while, they were all trying to bail me out and save me, and it’s so wonderful and amazing to be taken care of in that way. But I was just so stubborn. I was really committed to what I thought were the best choices I could make.”
In fact, Lenz said her commitment to the cult, which she did not name, affected her professional relationships.
She explained, “The nature of a group like this is isolating, it should make you distrust everyone around you so that the only people you trust are, first and foremost, the leadership and then the people within the group if the leadership approves of it, not in the midst of pitting you against each other.” Some, which happens all the time, too.”
Lenz noted that Nature “created a deep chasm of mistrust between herself and the cast and crew.
She continued, “As much as I loved them and cared for them, there was a basic idea: If I’m in pain, if I’m in pain, I can’t go to any of these people. So it feels incredibly lonely.”
18 shocking secrets about One Tree Hill open
However, the credits are 42 years old the offer With the creation of a distance between them and the sect.
She added that “a lot of people in that group lived there, and were in it day in and day out.” So in many ways, One Tree Hill You saved my life, because I spend nine months of the year in North Carolina. I had a lot of flying back and forth, a lot of people visiting and things like that, but my life was really built in North Carolina. And I think the spatial separation made a huge difference when it was time to get up.”
Linz – who first participated in the July episode of her podcast Drama queens That she was in a cult – she played Haley James Scott on it One Tree Hill From 2003 to 2012. She said diverse She was in worship “the entirety” of her time on the series, and that she initially thought she would join a Bible study group in Los Angeles.
Lenz said her presence in the cult “wasted a lot of opportunities” for her professionally due to her prioritizing the group.
“I was at the peak of my career, getting offers for huge movies and Broadway shows,” she recalls. “Everything I trained for, all my childhood dreams came true and I said no to everyone so I could live with this small, remote group of people, convinced I was making a noble spiritual sacrifice.”
Lenz – who said her presence in the sect affected her personally through “spiritual abuse” – said: diverse She left the group “after a very short time”. One Tree Hill I finish.
And while she said she was initially reluctant to tell her story for fear of being seen in the industry as “that girl who was in a cult,” she is now Writing diary This will cover the time of her life.
“Why did I want to talk about it because I think it could really be healing for a lot of other people,” Lenz said. diverse. “I know I’m not the only one. What good is our painful experiences if we shut them down and pretend everything’s perfect? It doesn’t help anyone.”
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