Bethany Pleasure Lenz has not forgotten the cult that lured her in and adjusted her life. Now, she’s sharing the main points.
Although it’s been a few years for the reason that forged of One Tree Hill went their separate methods, that point stays indelible.
Partially as a result of they had been The CW stars throughout that now fallen community’s prime. However, for Bethany Pleasure Lenz, there may be another excuse.
She spent a decade of her life in a cult. That grim stretch of her life coincided with One Tree Hill. One of many forged even tried to assist her see issues for the way they had been to save lots of her.
Now, she’s coming clear about the entire expertise.
‘One Tree Hill’ alum Bethany Pleasure Lenz is a cult survivor
Within the 2000s, Bethany Pleasure Lenz starred on One Tree Hill alongside Sophia Bush, Chad Michael Murray, and Hilarie Burton.
Lenz has come out with a memoir, Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Present (Whereas additionally in an Precise Cult!).
The ebook, which hits retailer cabinets on October 22, explains how the controlling, ultra-Cristian cult left Bethany Pleasure Lenz with little to indicate for her 9 years of TV stardom. She did, at the very least, escape the cult itself.
Chatting with Folks forward of her memoir’s publication, Bethany Pleasure Lenz defined that she first related to the cult via a bible examine. She had joined the group after first transferring to Los Angeles on the tender age of 20.
“I had all the time been searching for a spot to belong,” Lenz defined. She had grown up on the earth of Evangelical Christianity, born to folks who married younger and moved round lots. Appearing was a serious outlet for her, and attending church had all the time been a social anchor for her.
At first, the bible examine appeared like a pure match. Lenz described how “We crave that form of intimacy. The concept that somebody on the market says, ‘It doesn’t matter what you do or how badly you may behave or what dumb selections you make, I nonetheless love you, and I’m right here for you.’”
When did issues take a flip for the more severe?
Based on Lez, a visiting pastor named “Les” started attending and main conversations.
Even when he satisfied some members of the group to uproot and dwell in a small, commune-like “Large Home” in Idaho, alarm bells didn’t go off for the actress.
“It nonetheless appeared regular. After which it simply morphed,” Lenz characterised. “However by the point it began morphing, I used to be too far into the relationships to note. Plus, I used to be so younger.”
However others in her life may inform that Bethany Pleasure Lenz was in a cult. Together with her One Tree Hill costars.
“I may see it on their faces,” she recalled. “However I’d justify it, like, ‘I couldn’t presumably be in a cult. It’s simply that I’ve obtained entry to a relationship with God and other people in a approach that everyone else desires, however they don’t know the best way to get it.’”
Costar Craig Cheffer spoke to her straight in regards to the cult early into filming collectively, however Lenz wasn’t prepared to listen to it. She admitted: “I used to be like, ‘No, no, no. Cults are bizarre. Cults are individuals in robes chanting loopy issues and ingesting Kool-Support. That’s not what we do!’”
Finally, Bethany Pleasure Lenz noticed the cult for what it was
By that time, Lenz wasn’t positive the best way to depart. By this level, she had married a fellow cultist — thought-about a “household” member. They’d had Rosie collectively. Lenz wished to go away her cult and her cult-connected marriage.
“The stakes had been so excessive,” Bethany Pleasure Lenz recalled. “They had been my solely associates. I used to be married into this group. I had constructed my complete life round it. If I admitted that I used to be fallacious … all the things else would come crumbling down.”
All of that is very textbook. From beginning out as a easy gathering of like-minded Christians to slowly boiling the frog to binding individuals via marriage, kids, and funds … that is how these organizations discover and hold members. We’re so glad that Lenz was in a position to escape.
