Tyler Hilton's Efforts to Date “One Tree Hill ”Costar Bethany Joy Lenz Were Shut Down By Her 'Cult': 'Not the Vibe'

"Every once and a while I would get cult vibes," Hilton recalled. "So I was really into her though and I was like, 'Dude, I'm down with cult, I don’t care about that s---'"

Tyler Hilton once tried to date his former One Tree Hill costar Bethany Joy Lenz — but the "high control group" she was part of (a group she and others later described as a "cult") didn't approve.

During his Portland concert on Nov. 18, the singer, 40, spoke about Lenz's bombshell "cult" confession in her new memoir, Dinner for Vampires, and opened up about how their relationship was affected by her involvement in the religious group.

“The book talked a lot about personal stuff and I went through a lot of that with her,” he began in footage captured in a TikTok video. "Bethany and I weren’t really supposed to be hanging together on the show, but off set we became really good friends and started becoming close."

Related: Bethany Joy Lenz Reveals the Unexpected One Tree Hill Costar She 'Developed a Crush on' During Filming

He recalled how the two bonded over music and began to spend more time together outside of work. Hilton and Lenz — who played Chris and Haley respectively — began writing songs together and eventually "we started to catch feelings for real."

“We were hanging out together all the time and the producers on the show were like, ‘We should write this into the show,'" he said. "So they started having our characters sing together on the show and stuff.”

As their relationship grew, Hilton recalled how the two would have "so many beautiful, deep conversations about religion and stuff."

Related: The Cast of 'One Tree Hill': Where Are They Now?

"Every once and a while I would get cult vibes,” he admitted. “So I was really into her though and I was like, ‘Dude, I’m down with cult, I don’t care about that s---. Yeah, that’s no big deal, I’ve dated tons of girls [in cults].'”

When it came to dating, Lenz allegedly had one prerequisite. Her cult would have to approve of Hilton, so the group "sussed me out" at one of their concerts in Portland.

"They were like, ‘Yeah, he’s not the vibe.’ And she was like, ‘Yeah the cult said no,’” he laughed. “I didn’t have an answer for that one cause normally you can tell a girl is there something I can do? But if the cult says no, you’re f----ed. I’d never been broken up with by [a] cult before. That was the first time.”

Related: Bethany Joy Lenz Admits She Had a Strained Relationship with Sophia Bush While Filming One Tree Hill

In an excerpt of her memoir, Lenz got vulnerable about how her relationships were affected by her involvement in the group and shared how her romance with Tyler fizzled out after he learned the truth.

“Tyler and I took up together like two kids in a potato sack race,” she wrote. “Even though he didn’t share my faith (or my Family), I was developing a big crush on him. However, she said things took a turn when Hilton suspected she was part of a religious cult.

“As the tour continued on, Tyler seemed to want more space away from me,” she recalled. “I didn’t understand why until he called me in my hotel room one night.”

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After Hilton’s tour manager caught wind of a potential story about Lenz’s association with a religious cult, she said Hilton addressed her directly about the situation. Though Lenz denied she was in a cult at the time, she said her relationship with Hilton was not quite the same after.

“Tyler always treated me normally from then forward, but I hated having it hang over me. He had become a good friend, crush or no crush, and it hurt to have people keep distancing themselves from me," she confessed.