Dinner for Vampires
by Bethany Joy Lenz
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: Oct. 20, 2024
Genre: Memoir
Rating:
A deliciously witty and inspiring memoir by One Tree Hill star Bethany Joy Lenz about her decade in a cult and her quest to break free.
In the early 2000s, after years of hard work and determination to breakthrough as an actor, Bethany Joy Lenz was finally cast as one of the leads on the hit drama One Tree Hill. Her career was about to take off, but her personal life was slowly beginning to unravel. What none of the show’s millions of fans knew, hidden even from her costars, was her secret double life in a cult.
An only child who often had to fend for herself and always wanted a place to belong, Lenz found the safe haven she’d been searching for in a Bible study group with other Hollywood creatives. However, the group soon morphed into something more sinister—a slowly woven web of manipulation, abuse, and fear under the guise of a church covenant called The Big House Family. Piece by piece, Lenz began to give away her autonomy, ultimately relocating to the Family’s Pacific Northwest compound, overseen by a domineering minister who would convince Lenz to marry one of his sons and steadily drained millions of her TV income without her knowledge. Family “minders” assigned to her on set, “Maoist struggle session”–inspired meetings in the basement of a filthy house, and regular counseling with “Leadership” were just part of the tactics used to keep her loyal.
Only when she became a mother did Lenz find the courage to leave and spare her child from a similar fate. After nearly a decade (and with the unlikely help of a One Tree Hill superfan), she finally managed to escape the family’s grip and begin to heal from the deep trauma that forever altered her relationship with God and her understanding of faith. Written with powerful honesty and dark humor, Dinner for Vampires is an inspiring story about the importance of identity and understanding what you believe.
My thoughts…
When your bible study turns into a cult…
This was a memoir I didn’t know I needed to hear, but thoroughly enjoyed. Based on the title, you know she gets stuck in a cult. When you picture cult, you think compounds where no one can leave, everyone has a job to do whether it’s teaching kids, making clothes, farming, etc. Everyone serves the head of the cult and views him as the conduit to God. However, that wasn’t her cult at all.
She didn’t grow up in this cult. In fact, she got sucked in by choice. During her acting career, she wanted to find like-minded people who believed in God. She found a bible study and made friends and connections. This then led to the cult, which was just a group of people who talked about God, and called each other “family”. Which isn’t overly weird, because we all say we have family outside of our family. However, this one was a bit different. They coerced her into investing in property against her legal teams guidance. They were effective in pushing her “bio family” (as they had her calling them) away because they just didn’t understand her “new family”. They even maneuvered her into marrying the son of the head honcho. However, they did it in a way of manipulating her religious beliefs against her. Invest in this motel because it will be used to help more people find god and save their souls. Don’t let others outside influence you and take you away from God. The devil is enticing you to follow him into damnation, you must be strong and come back to your family so we can help you. On and on it went.
Thankfully, she was able to get herself and her daughter out of there. Now, here’s where I’m lost. Her belief in God, her religion in a high power, got her into this mess. If I’m not mistaken, every cult focuses around religion. So, why, after getting out of this situation, is she still practicing? Did she really escape a cult, just to potentially end up in another one?
