Bethany Joy Lenz’s Memoir to Recount Escape from Cult: ‘Story of Forgiveness’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Bethany Joy Lenz, best known for her role in the show ONE TREE HILL, has written a memoir about her experience living in and escaping from a cult.
In a recent Instagram post, she discussed her memoir “Dinner For Vampires.”
“Dinner for Vampires, my memoir about the decade i spent in an abusive, high-demand group (aka, cult) is on presale now with #SimonandSchuster @simonbooks,” Lenz began, sharing a photo of the book cover.
She continued, “Being a writer has been a great, private joy in my life since I was about 12. This isn’t the first book I thought I’d write, publicly, but as difficult as this subject matter is to untangle, I’m grateful I get to share my story, my way.”
“It’s a story of forgiveness and a roadmap to how manipulation works, with heartache and humor along the way,” she added. “We all make mistakes and I hope Dinner for Vampires reminds you that, no matter what weird roads you’ve gone down, you’re not alone ❤️?”
In an interview with Variety, Lenz shared how she became involved in the cult, which she was a part of for 10 years.
“I grew up in a Christian home where Wednesday night Bible studies were very common,” she shared. “I think that there’s a lot of people that can resonate with that. And I just went to another one. I moved to a new state, moved to a new city, and I went to another Wednesday night Bible study and that’s all it was to me.”
“But the friendships seemed deeper, more vulnerable somehow, as time went on,” she told Variety. “The person that was brought into the leadership position was sociopathic and most of us who were involved were in our early 20s.”
However, her childhood faith eventually helped her escape. Movieguide® reported:
“’I think, at the end of the day, I had faith [in God] before I met the people in this group, and that’s the thing that eventually led me back out,’ she shared. Lenz’s story is a powerful reminder of what the Bible teaches – that a strong foundation in faith in childhood will lead to a lifelong relationship with Christ.”
“So many people are being misled in the name of a God I love and cherish,” Lenz told Entertainment Weekly. “I feel I have a responsibility to speak up for anyone willing to hear it.”
According to The Christian Post, the memoir will be released this October. It details “Lenz’s life as she navigated working in the entertainment industry while minders from the cult, known as the Big House Family, accompanied her on set.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Lenz:
Actress and musician Bethany Joy Lenz explained how her parents gave her a strong relationship with Christ and how her faith carried her through hard times.
Growing up, Lenz’s family was constantly moving. Despite an inconsistent community, church was the one constant in her life. No matter where they ended up, Lenz’s parents made sure the family attended church, something Lenz is incredibly grateful for.
“It’s one of the things [my parents] really did right was instilling in me the confidence to have my own relationship with God…” Lenz told the “Biscuits and Jam” podcast. “In spite of the fact that we bounced around church to church and we were living in different places and it was hard to really dig into a community because we never knew when we were gonna get up and go, I did really feel like Jesus was my best friend growing up – aside from my cocker spaniel. And I did really have this sense of not being alone even though I was an only child and didn’t have a ton of friends, and it made a huge difference in my life.”
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