Tyler Hilton once tried to date his ex One Tree Hill costar Bethany Joy Lenz — but the “high control group” she was a part of (a group she and others later described as a “cult”) disapproved.
During her Nov. 18 concert in Portland, the singer, 40, opened up about Lenz’s “iconic” bombshell confession in her new memoir, Dinner for vampiresand opened up about how their relationship was affected by her participation in a religious group.
“The book talked a lot about personal things and I went through a lot with it,” he began in a clip recorded in a TikTok video. “Bethany and I weren’t really supposed to be together on the show, but off set we became really good friends and started to bond.”
Bethany Joy Lenz discovers the unexpected One Tree Hill The costar she ‘fell in love’ with during filming
(L) Bethany Joy Lenz and Tyler Hilton on ‘One Tree Hill’.
Warner Bros./Everett
He recalled how the two bonded over music and began spending more time together outside of work. Hilton and Lenz — who played Chris and Haley — started writing songs together and eventually “we started really feeling the feelings.”
“We hung out all the time and the producers on the show said, ‘We should write this into the show,'” he said. “So they started making our characters sing together on the show and stuff like that.”
As their relationship grew, Hilton recalled how the two had “so many beautiful, deep conversations about religion and stuff.”
‘One Tree Hill’ Cast: Where Are They Now?
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(L-R) James Lafferty, Sophia Bush, Chad Michael Murray, Bethany Joy Lenz, Hilarie Burton and Tyler Hilton. Carley Margolis/FilmMagic
“Every now and then I’d get cult vibes,” he admitted. “So I really fell in love with her and I was like, ‘Dude, I’ve had enough of the cult, I don’t care about it with… .. Yeah, it’s not a big deal, I’ve dated a bunch of girls [in cults].’”
When it comes to dating, Lenz reportedly had one prerequisite. Hilton would have to agree with her cult, so the group “fired” me at one of their concerts in Portland.
“They were like, ‘Yeah, he’s not the vibe.’ And she said, ‘Yeah, the cult said no,’ he laughed, I’ve never been broken up [a] the cult before. That was the first time.”
Bethany Joy Lenz admitted that she had a strained relationship with Sophia Bush during filming One Tree Hill
In an excerpt from her memoir, Lenz became vulnerable about how her involvement in the group affected her relationships and recounted how her romance with Tyler collapsed after he learned the truth.
“Tyler and I started together like two kids in a potato sack race,” she wrote. “Even though he didn’t share my faith (or my family), I was very much in love with him. However, she said things took a turn when Hilton suspected she was part of a religious cult.
“As the tour went on, Tyler seemed to want more space away from me,” she recalled. “I didn’t understand why until one night he invited me to his hotel room.”
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After Hilton’s tour manager learned of the potential story about Lenz’s connection to a religious cult, she said Hilton approached her directly about the situation. Although Lenz denied being in a cult at the time, she said her relationship with Hilton wasn’t the same afterward.
“Tyler always treated me normally from then on, but I hated having that hanging over me. He became my good friend, whether he was in love or not, and it hurt that people kept distancing themselves from me,” she admitted.
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Source: HIS Education