One Tree Hill alum Bethany Joy Lenz has praised her fans for the "heartwarming" response she received since sharing her truth about spending years in a cult while filming the hit teen drama.
"I have been pleasantly surprised," she tells HELLO!, adding: "It's just always a scary thing to talk about and I think the biggest thing is not wanting you or your heart to be misunderstood, so it's really lovely to hear that people are supportive and aren't being judgmental, and that's really heartwarming."
Bethany made the cult revelations on her podcast Drama Queens - which the talented multi-hyphenate hosts with former co-stars Sophia Bush and Hilarie Burton - several months before it was picked up on by the media, and has previously shared that Sophia and Hilarie both knew at the time of the show being on air that she was in an abusive environment.
But Bethany says they didn't know she would be breaking her silence during the specific episode.
© MNP Photography"Sophia laughed and she said something like, 'I didn't know if you were going to bring it up!,' and we all just kind of laughed and [it was just part of] what I was saying about the episode we were watching so I just threw it in there," the Hallmark star admits.
In the past 12 months, Bethany has moved from Los Angeles, California to Nashville, Tennessee, rediscovered her faith, and broken her silence on the years she spent trapped in a cult – it has been, she says, "cosmic divine timing" to begin living and speaking her truth.
As well as the podcast, the 42-year-old is releasing new music, and her single 'Strawberries,' released on Friday August 18, is a fun country song about jealousy and how comparison is the thief of joy.
© Emily Assiran"It's the first song I wrote when I landed in Nashville and I wanted to write something that felt really raw and authentically me, that dropped into the playfulness and excitement that I was feeling about being here in Nashville," Bethany shares.
"The song itself was born out of a quick moment with a girlfriend, when I was looking at her skinny little ankle and got jealous, then I was just imagining another things [to be jealous of] and began playing with the idea of comparison and boosting ourselves up and then just being happy at the end of the day with what we have."
Bethany, who starred as Haley Scott in One Tree Hill between 2003 and 202, is also a mom to 12-year-old daughter Maria, and she acknowledges that although in her songwriting she doesn't set out to influence, she intentionally lives her life in a way to be a good role model for the tween.
"When I am posting on Instagram or if I'm talking with a friend at my house, then I always try to lead by example and conduct myself in a way that I would be okay with her acting like at some point," says Bethany. "I don't want her to hear me gossiping about someone because I don't want her to gossip. I just think, 'What kind of a person do you want to be?' And let's just try and live that out, as practically as we can."
Moving to Music City has also opened up a new way of life, one that is slower and more focused on community, and that is also impacting her songwriting; Bethany recently played at the iconic Bluebird Cafe.
© Clementine WeldAs an artist, her songwriting will always be inspired by her life, and there "have been songs and stories and things that I've written just out of the need to process [the trauma]," praising the practice of journaling as a valuable tool for helping her to break down her own belief systems.
One of those systems was her religious faith. When Bethany moved to a new state in her early 20s, she joined a new church and a Wednesday night Bible study that she says was soon being led by "sociopath," previously admitting that she was "very committed to my faith and just got some really bad advice."
© The WBThe move away from Los Angeles has helped, however, with the singer revealing that it is the slower Southern way of life that has given her the chance to find community again and build trust.
"It probably could have happened in a dozen other places because anywhere, anytime you force yourself to get into a space where you're slowing down, you're going to have more opportunity," she says.
"But I've found so many wonderful friends here because Nashville is less transient so there's a sense of settlement," she says. "Plus, because of the trauma that I've experienced with friendships, to be able to find people that I really trust and where I can trust my gut on them has brought me much closer to an understanding of God's love."
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