Actress Found Answers in Christ After Escaping Cult

By Movieguide® Contributor

Actress Bethany Joy Lenz knows that her fulfillment in life is found only in Jesus.

“What I found to be the most satisfying, cerebrally and soulfully satisfying answers, were in the Christ story,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.

Back at the start of her career, Lenz was a part of a cult called Big House Family. “What began as something she joined for Bible studies became a dominating entity in her life, by which her career, life choices and bank account would be controlled,” The Hollywood Reporter said.

“The more that I researched, the more things that made sense to me as an answer for all these big questions that should produce the most compassion, the most help for the poor, the most humility and all of these things that, unfortunately, we don’t see much of in the Western church at all,” she added of finding answers in Jesus.

“But the way that I understood that and went back to a relationship with Jesus from that place that wasn’t tied in with the church and the checklist, and me trying to earn my value and all of that, the more authentic my faith became [and] my relationship with God became,” Lenz continued. “I feel like now I can live from a place of making mistakes and being OK with it, and that those pieces get filled.”

Lenz left the group in 2012 and has since written a memoir of her experience titled Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While also in an Actual Cult!), which was recently published.

The synopsis reads:

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. Piece by piece, Lenz 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. Family “minders” assigned to her on set, “Maoist struggle session”–inspired meetings in the basement of a filthy house, and regular counseling with “Leadership” were just part of the tactics used to keep her loyal.

The book has already found success by making it on the NY Times recommended reading list.

“My jaw is on the floor. #DinnerforVampires made the @nytimes list for recommended non-fiction reading this fall ?? I’m astonished and grateful,” she wrote on Instagram. “I also want to dig a hole and crawl into it and say, ‘make me a blanket of dirt and let me know when it’s over!’ because I never learned how to process good things happening. Artists (and many other people) learn to wait for the bad news. I learned a habit early in life— ‘don’t get your hopes up for fear you’ll be made a fool, later.’ For the first time in my life I’m really trying to embrace the vulnerability of gratitude. If you’re like me, it can be painful at first to enjoy and accept good things. Let’s do it together! Good things are coming out of all the muck, after all.”