‘One Tree Hill’s Bethany Joy Lenz Publicly Identifies The “Abusive” Religious Cult She Spent 10 Years In

Bethany Joy Lenz is unearthing more details about the religious cult in which she spent a decade of her life.

The One Tree Hill alum unveiled the very first look at her memoir Dinner for Vampires — which details her years in an “abusive, high-demand group (aka, cult)” — in an Instagram post on Friday. While Lenz has previously discussed her time in the cult, she has never named it until now. In the publisher’s description for her book, she reveals the group as The Big House Family.

Presenting the book as “a story of forgiveness and a roadmap to how manipulation works, with heartache and humor along the way,” Lenz directed her followers to the link in her Instagram bio, which brings them to the book’s page on Simon & Schuster’s website.

Once there, the synopsis explains that as “an only child who often had to fend for herself and always wanted a place to belong, Lenz found the safe haven she’d been searching for in a Bible study group with other Hollywood creatives.

“However, the group soon morphed into something more sinister—a slowly woven web of manipulation, abuse, and fear under the guise of a church covenant called The Big House Family,” the synopsis continues.

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A post shared by Bethany Joy Lenz (@msbethanyjoylenz)

Lenz eventually “began to give away her autonomy, ultimately relocating to the Family’s Pacific Northwest compound, overseen by a domineering minister who would convince Lenz to marry one of his sons and steadily drained millions of her TV income without her knowledge,” according to the synopsis.

Last July, Lenz admitted to her One Tree Hill co-stars and Drama Queens podcast co-hosts Sophia Bush and Hilarie Burton Morgan that she “was in a cult for 10 years.” Although she didn’t name the cult at the time, she seemingly teased her memoir, telling them she “would love to write about [her] experience.”

The following month, she revealed to Variety that her One Tree Hill co-stars were aware of her being in a cult and claimed that they even attempted to intervene, noting that “for a while, they were all trying to save [her] and rescue [her].”

In an interview with E! News last September, she shared that she had “wild, vivid dreams” about her eventual escape from the cult after becoming “very frustrated in [her] faith.” She also shared that she was “looking forward to detailing all those specific moments” in her book, noting that “part of [her] catharsis was writing.”

“What good are my stories if I can’t find a way to share them in a way that is meaningful and helps people?” she said at the time.

Dinner for Vampires will be published Oct. 22.