Bethany Joy Lenz is ready to address the drama between her and one of her former Drama Queens co-hosts, Hilarie Burton!
Rumors of a feud between the One Tree Hill co-stars started earlier this year when Bethany announced her upcoming book Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While also in an Actual Cult!). Since the 43-year-old singer-songwriter hosts a podcast with Hilarie and Sophia Bush, you’d think they would cheer on this new accomplishment. But quite the opposite! Instead, she got shade from Hilarie!
Related: Bethany Joy Lenz Reveals Eerily ‘Normal’ Way She Joined A Cult!
Wy? The former Total Request Live host seemingly called out Bethany for copying the layout of her own book cover for Grimoire Girl: Creating an Inheritance of Magic and Mischief. Check out the covers for yourself (below):
They do give off similar vibes…
However, don’t just this drama just by its book cover. No, there is a lot more to the beef between the two women. We’re talking very serious issues here! Hilarie and Sophia reportedly don’t share the same “values” as Bethany — especially when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community. As you know, Sophia is now a proud member of the community. But she and Hilarie have been big allies for a long time. So Bethany’s homophobic and transphobic beliefs have reportedly caused a lot of tension in the group!
Not only has it impacted their friendship, but it also hurt their business! They reportedly lost opportunities and ad deals. Oof. As a DeuxMoi source spilled in March:
“The girls have tried to have so many conversations with Joy about basic human rights, and all I can say is, obviously Sophia is with a woman now and they all have plenty of queer friends, but Joy has drawn her line in the sand, and it’s really hard.”
Adding fuel to the rumors? Months later, Hilarie left the Drama Queens podcast and was replaced by their other co-star, Robert Buckley, who played Clay Evans on OTH. The excuse? Her character was no longer on the show after Season 6, so it was time for her to bounce from the pod! However, as fans noted at the time, she previously said she was super excited to cover the episodes she wasn’t in! So what changed? It had to be because of the feud, right? If you wanted an answer from Hilarie or Sophia, you aren’t getting it! But Bethany? She finally broke her silence!
The former soap opera star appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast on Wednesday, and Alex Cooper did everyone a solid and asked about the rumored rift! Bethany’s response? She didn’t deny it, that’s for sure! She said:
“I love Hilarie. I have always and will always and I don’t have any problem with her. There have been some bizarre misunderstandings that I really hope we can figure out one day, but I love that girl.”
@nqleys the first acknowledgement of the drama???????? #joylenz #hilarieburton #callherdaddy #onetreehill #dramaqueens #onetreehilldrama #sophiabush #haleyjamesscott #peytonsawyer
What “bizarre misunderstandings”? The book covers? The issue with how the gal pals were reportedly supposed to write a memoir about their time on One Tree Hill together, but Bethany sneakily did it on her own instead? Hmm. Bethany doesn’t go into more detail about the matter. But we certainly hope she isn’t referring to difference of opinion over the rights of the LGBT community to continue existing as “bizarre misunderstandings”. Right?
Bethany did mention her ongoing problems with Sophia, which seem tied to the homophobia allegations. Elsewhere on the podcast, Bethany spoke about how she struggled to connect with the Chicago PD alum during the show as they had “very different” views:
“I think we were both approaching life from a similar way, but from opposite perspectives. Because the conclusions that we had come to about life and God and all those things were very different. There just was no space for listening. She would have been much more quick to listen to my perspective and hear me than I would have been at the time. We’re going through the motions of close friendship but not actually knowing how to connect. It’s hard.”
To this day, they have not fully hashed out their issues from during their filming days — not even on their podcast! When asked if they confronted their struggles together, Bethany explained:
“A little bit, not as much as I would have liked. On Drama Queens, we definitely talked about our time back then and what was hard and how great it was to reconnect and the feelings of unraveling things that were so mysterious to us at the time. But no, it’s an ever-evolving journey. There are still plenty of people in my life that I… man, shame is a tough thing.”
Well, there’s still time to talk about everything, especially since Sophia shockingly stayed on the Drama Queens podcast despite everything. Perhaps they can work things out before the OTH sequel series? At this time, Hilarie and Sophia are set to reprise their roles as Peyton Sawyer and Brooke Davis on the reboot. As for Bethany? It’s still up in the air for her. She talked to Alex about that, too… well, kinda. She said:
“It’s way too early to talk about any of that.”
The three of them have some IRL drama to solve before they can even think about working on a television drama together again! Reactions to Bethany’s comments, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below!
[Image via MEGA/WENN]
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