One Tree Hill star reveals she had sex on a schedule while in a cult
Actress Bethany Joy Lenz, who is known for her role in the TV series "One Tree Hill", told the podcast Call her daddy that she was married to the son of a religious cult leader, and got PTSD because she was forced to have sex with him on a schedule. She does not name him.
Bethany spent ten years in a Christian community called Big House Family and married the son of the sect's leader. Although their relationship was "light and playful" at the beginning, there was no real feeling.
"We didn't have much in common. There wasn't much intellectual attraction. But I kind of ran out of options. Like, I couldn't date a non-Christian, and I couldn't date anyone outside the community."
The 43-year-old actress says she considers herself a person with "insane sexual potential," but has never felt attracted to her husband. She says she expected that the fact that she was a virgin until marriage would guarantee great sex and a sense of intimacy, but that didn't happen. "It was all a lot of crap. I was like, 'What the hell?' I thought that if I saved myself until marriage, I would have amazing sex and super-deep intimacy and nothing could be better than that. And then we're having sex and I'm like, 'Why am I so sad? I don't feel any connection to you and I want to be away from you.' I don't necessarily think it had anything to do with saving myself for marriage. I just married the wrong person."
Since Bethany herself was not interested in having sex, her husband suggested that she stick to a special "schedule." She agreed to this in order to maintain harmony in the family. "Since I was completely uninterested in sex, they suggested that I stick to a schedule. It was like, 'You just have to do it. Just do it. This is your duty. This is your job as a wife, and the feelings will come. If you do it often enough, eventually you will find a way to enjoy it.'"
Despite her self-deception, the actress hated sex with her husband. "It was a routine I had to engage in to keep the peace in my marriage."
The schedule only came into effect when her husband, who was often on the road, returned home. Even after they finally broke up, Bethany continued to feel uncomfortable for a long time. She even developed psychological trauma against this background: she feels uneasy when she needs to meet someone at the airport, because she remembers her husband returning and having to have sex again.
"It really affected my relationships with other guys when I had to go pick them up from the airport. I had PTSD from going to the airport to pick up my husband knowing that I would have to have sex with him again on a schedule for the next two or three weeks."
The cult began with reading the Bible together, but members later began worshiping a leader she won't name, using the word "The Forest" instead. He convinced the cult members to move to Idaho, live separately, and trust no one but the other members of the congregation. She says the cult leader and his son, whom she was married to, controlled her life and career. For example, she was allowed to keep her role on One Tree Hill, but was forced to turn down roles that were offered to her. Bethany believes this was their way of maintaining control over her.
"The more I worked, the less they saw of me. The more I worked, the more confidence I gained in my abilities. If I just played one character for 10 years and did nothing else, they would know where I was all the time."
According to the actress, she found the strength to leave the sect after the birth of her daughter, who was born in 2011. Bethany Joy Lenz was married to singer Michael Galeotti.