Actress Bethany Joy Lenz Reveals How She Lost Millions to a Cult: 'It Was Horrifying' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

“It was really horrifying,” she tells PEOPLE for a story in this week’s print issue. She explains that she basically had to start over from scratch, despite being on one of the most popular teen dramas of the early aughts.

She says during her darkest moments, she would just break down in tears.

“I had many, many weeping-on-the-floor nights, just trying to figure out how to manage and what I was going to do and what to do with my emotions, the anger, the injustice, all those things,” she adds.

Bethany Joy Lenz at her PEOPLE cover shoot in Sept, 2024.John Russo

John Russo

“There’s a part of me that’s still like, ‘Oh, God, it’s so gauche to talk about money. Don’t. And there are so many people who would never even imagine seeing that kind of money, let alone what I was left with in the bank account, which, eventually, all just went to lawyers anyway. But it was hard. It was very hard.”

Despite her initial shame and regret over her experience in the cult, Lenz says now she understands her struggle was for the greater good.

“First of all, I wouldn’t have my daughter. It was all worth it because of her,” she says. She’d married fellow “family” member Michael Galleoti in 2005, and the two welcomed daughter Rosie in 2011. They divorced in 2012, the same year Lenz left the group.

Dinner for Vampires, Bethany Joy Lenz’s memoir is out Oct. 22.

“But more than that, it’s worth it because I’m going to be able to share [my story] with so many people out there who have experienced this and don’t know what to do with their shame. Or who may be currently experiencing it and don’t quite know how to identify what they’re feeling, but maybe they can recognize and see something in what I’m saying that’ll make them turn a lightbulb on.”

She adds, “It might also help people who might otherwise get into something like this, and now they know what red flags to look for.”

These days, Lenz says she’s finally found peace.

Bethany Joy Lenz at her cover shoot for PEOPLE, Sept. 2024.John Russo

“There are days when I feel happy. There are days when I’m grouchy and not happy and frustrated because of life … but I’m OK. I’m going to be OK.” she explains. “I feel like I’ve righted myself. It’s like one of those wobble things that’s weighted, and you put it on your desk, and it always rights itself. I was wobbling, and I feel like I righted myself.”

To read more about Bethany Joy Lenz and how she finally managed to leave the cult, read this week’s issue of PEOPLE on stands Friday.

source: people.com