Bethany Joy Lenz reveals why she did 'One Tree Hill' despite receiving warning

Bethany Joy Lenz received a warning before her audition for hit 2000s show One Tree Hill.

The night before her screen test, Bethany’s manager called her to inform her that the show would contain intimate scenes. Since the actress was raised an evangelical Christian, she’d previously passed on starring in What I Like About You, opposite Amanda Bynes, because she didn’t want to play a character who lived with her boyfriend.

In her memoir Dinner for Vampires, she recounts her manager saying: “I have a direct quote that I’ve been asked to relay to you, to make sure you know exactly what you’re getting into before you sign this contract.”

Lenz’s manager then quoted the TV manager saying that the show would focus on intimacy between teens “and if she’s gonna have a problem with that, she shouldn’t come in tomorrow.”

However, she wanted to star in the show and replied, “Just tell him I understand what he’s saying. I’m not gonna try and stop them from writing about real teenagers. I believe in this show and I want to be a part of it.”

“Grit didn’t scare me, and the One Tree Hill pilot had grit,” she said of the show, noting that it “was different from most bubble-gum TV with subliminal agendas”

Lenz added, “I didn’t feel too at risk of being objectified. I believed in this show and its ability to send meaningful, uplifting messages to the audience.”

One Tree Hill premiered in 2003 and ran for nine seasons. Alongside Bethany Joy Lenz, it starred Chad Michael Murray, James Lafferty, Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton and more.