Bethany Joy Lenz reveals ‘wonderful’ new boyfriend after failed marriage to ‘cult’ leader’s son

Bethany Joy Lenz has revealed she is in an “amazing” new relationship after a failed marriage to the son of a “cult leader” in the early 2000s.

The One Tree Hill star, 43, who previously said she had a “sex scheme” with the unnamed man, credited her mysterious new love interest with allowing her to release the memoir Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show ( While Also in a Real cult!).

Lenz, who shares daughter Maria, 13, with ex Michael Galleotti to whom she was married between 2005 and 2012, said Variety: ‘I saw a wonderful man, and he was incredibly helpful, very supportive and helped with things like after-school care so I could stay and write until five o’clock.

“I tried to put myself on a schedule so I knew which days I would pick her up from school and help her with her homework or take her to different activities so I could make sure I still felt like I was part of the daily routine.

‘Then there were other days when I thought: rest, I write from half past six to six o’clock. So I did have help. And she’s, thank God, at an age where Mom isn’t cool, and the last thing she wants to do is hang out with me.”

The actress shocked fans when she revealed she was trapped in a cult for a decade ahead of her new memoir.

She claims she experienced “manipulation, abuse and fear” from what she thought was a church alliance.

In the official description of her book, she says she was under the control of The Big House Family’s “dominant minister” for ten years before finally leaving.

She claims the minister convinced her to marry his son and stole millions of dollars of her television earnings from One Tree Hill, which ran from 2003 to 2012.

Lenz said she was married to a man she called QB.

In Wednesday’s episode of Call her daddyLenz explained that she felt like she “married the wrong person” at the time when she became involved with a “cult” for a decade in the early 2000s.

And because of the intimacy issues in their marriage, she and QB were “asked” to develop a “sex schedule.”

The star said her relationship with QB was “playful and easy” at first.

Over time, however, she realized that they “didn’t have much in common.”

Ultimately, she said her marriage to QB became “kind of an arranged situation.”

Despite having a “crazy sex drive,” she recalled saving herself for marriage after being “promised” it would be better; however, she said it was “a big pot.”

“I thought if I save myself for marriage, the promise is great sex and super deep intimacy, and nothing is ever that good and it’s just the best thing ever,” she said.

“Then we have sex, and it’s like, ‘Why do I feel so sad?’ I no longer feel connected to you. I feel further away from you.”

Lenz recalled, “Because I was so uninterested in sex, I was then asked to follow a schedule.

‘Basically [they were] like, ‘You just have to do it. Just do it. This is your duty. This is your job as a wife. Your emotions will align. If you do it enough times, you’ll eventually find a way to enjoy it.”

She said she did her best to “make it work,” even though she hated it because there was “so much at stake.”

“It was a routine I had to participate in to keep the peace in my marriage,” she added.

She said that while she was filming One Tree Hill in Wilmington, her now ex would constantly travel to the Pacific Northwest and expect sex when he returned.

“My stomach dropped every time,” she admitted. ‘It actually had a huge impact on my relationships afterwards [with] other boyfriends when I had to pick them up from the airport.’

Lenz added, “I got so much PTSD when I showed up at the airport to see him, knowing that I was going to have to start this sex schedule for the next little while, like two or three weeks or whatever.”

And even though their marriage eventually ended, she said she still felt for her ex.

The poor man never had a chance,” she said. “He was raised by this narcissist. He ended up in a marriage that is not good for him. He’s trying his best, and he’s been fed all these lies about men and machismo, like he grew up in that.”

On Tuesday, DailyMail.com revealed that she was referring to Wild Branch Ministries, a small covenant church whose devotees lived “commune style” in a million-dollar mansion in Battle Ground, Washington, known as The Big House.

Its founder – a “dominant” minister whom Lenz has described as a sociopath similar to Keith Raniere of the NXIVM sex cult – is “Papa” Mike Galeotti, her former father-in-law.

Approached for his side of the story, Galeotti, 62, described her allegations as “heartbreaking.”

“Everyone sees things a little differently and she will hold on to the fame,” he told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.

‘Good for her. She’s going to make a name for herself. But it didn’t happen that way.’

Galeotti’s son, Michael Jr., was reluctant to help him dredge up his years-long divorce.

“After all this time, I don’t know what to think of this memoir,” he said.

‘I have a daughter who is very important to me. I don’t want it to affect her. It’s too much. I don’t really want to cause her any trouble.’

Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While Also in an Actual Cult!) hits shelves on October 22.