One Tree Hill star Bethany Joy Lenz revealed she was forced her to abide by a 'sex schedule' during her marriage to the son of a Christian cult leader.
She claimed that her former husband - who she referred to as QB, which stands for 'Quiet Boy' - ordered her to abide by a 'routine' and said this subsequently had a knock-on effect on her subsequent relationships.
The actress, 45, opened up about the lasting ramifications that her time as a member of the religious group have had on her mental health.
Lenz explained she spent a decade with the 'Big House Family' organisation, a Christian group who she claims ended up controlling her career, life choices and, eventually, her bank account.
Advert
What started off as Bible study soon snowballed into her morphing into a full blown cult member, with the leader Michael Galeotti inviting her to live on a small commune in Idaho.
In 2005, the Dexter actress married his son Michael Galeotti Jr - but explained it wasn't exactly love at first sight.
During an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast which originally aired in October 2024, Lenz explained she 'didn't have a lot in common' with her former spouse.
"There wasn't a lot of intellectual stimulation," she said. "But I had kinda run out of options. I couldn't date a non-Christian and I couldn't really date anybody outside of the group. So it just became this sort of arranged situation."
The Florida-born actress, who shares daughter Maria Rose, 15, with Galeotti Jr, recalled how she had a 'crazy sex drive' before getting hitched but did not have intercourse until after she had said 'I do'.
However, she didn't feel an intimate connection with her ex-husband when the time finally came for them to consummate their marriage.
"It felt like this promise that I had been given as a good evangelical was a big crock," Lenz went on. "Like, what the heck? I thought if I save myself for marriage, then the promise is amazing sex and super deep intimacy, and nothing's ever as good...and then we have sex, and it's like, ‘Why do I feel so sad? I don't feel more connected to you. I feel farther away from you'.
"And I don't think that necessarily had anything to do with saving myself for marriage. It was just that I married the wrong person."
This left her shying away from having sex with Galeotti Jr - and she claimed that because she was 'so disinterested in sex', she was subsequently 'asked to go on a schedule'.
Lenz alleged: "Basically of like, ‘You just have to do it. Just do it. This is your duty. This is your job as a wife. Your emotions will fall in line. If you do it enough, then eventually, you will find a way to enjoy it'.
"It was a routine that I had to participate in order to keep the peace in my marriage."
She told podcast host Alex Cooper that she 'hated' having sex with her former spouse and dreaded him returning from work trips as he returned with the expectation of intercourse.
"My stomach dropped every single time," Lenz said. "In fact, it really affected my relationships afterwards [with] other boyfriends when I had to go pick them up from the airport.
"I had so much PTSD from showing up at the airport to see him, knowing that I was gonna have to start this sex schedule for the next two weeks or three weeks or whatever."
Lenz also discussed her experience with the Big House Family in her 2024 memoir Dinner for Vampires and claimed she was the one who footed the bill for their 'abysmal' honeymoon in Colorado.
"I felt angry with him for suddenly having no interest in me besides my body, and he was angry that everything he'd been promised about wives being a personal blow-up doll was false," she wrote, as per the Daily Mail.
"I had no idea how bad it would get or how exhausted and emotionally stripped I would become, but it was immediately and abundantly clear this whole arrangement was the worst decision I'd ever made."
Lenz's former father-in-law denied Lenz's allegations that she was brainwashed and controlled, with Galeotti previously telling the publication: "Everybody sees things a little differently and she's going to cling to the fame. Good for her. She's going to make a name for herself. But it's not the way it went down."
Galeotti Jr also added: "I don't know what to make of this memoir after all this time. I have a daughter who's really important to me. I don't want it to affect her. It's too much. I don't really want to cause any problems for her."
He and Lenz divorced in 2012, a year after she gave birth to Maria Rose, who now goes by the stage name Maria March.
Speaking to Variety in 2024, the actress said she found it difficult to discuss her marriage in Dinner for Vampires as she wanted to 'be respectful' of Maria Rose's relationship with her father.
"She’s old enough now that, if she wants to read it, she can, and I feel like we’d be able to talk about it," the mum said. "But I didn’t want to dishonour her dad.
"I don’t believe he’s a bad person. He’s on his own journey, and I don’t want to judge it, but I have to maintain that balance of me being authentic and telling the truth of what I experienced and also leaving space for their relationship. "That was the hardest part in the whole book: making sure I created that balance."
Asked if she had any kind of relationship with the Galeotti family, Lenz added: "I am not connected to them in any way, thank the Low-ard Jesus."
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this story, you can speak in confidence about where to get help from Mind free on 0300 123 3393, 9am–6pm Monday to Friday, excluding Bank Holidays.
Topics: Sex and Relationships, Celebrity, Celebrity News, Religion, Weird
Olivia Burke