What is 'Dinner for Vampires’? Tyler Hilton reveals ‘One Tree Hill’ co-star Bethany Joy Lenz's memoir helped them form a deeper connection
Tyler Hilton recently revealed that his One Tree Hill co-star Bethany Joy Lenz's memoir, Dinner for Vampires, fueled a stronger bond between them. Bethany released her memoir in October 2024, in which she details her life while appearing in the TV show and also being a member of a religious cult, Big House Family, that controlled many aspects of her life.
On April 27, People Magazine published an exclusive interview with Tyler Hilton, who played Chris Keller in One Tree Hill. In this interview, the musician shared how his co-star's memoir helped them reconnect and grow deeper connections. Hilton said,
"So with [Lenz] writing this book, we've gotten to connect in this whole other way that makes me love her as a friend and [also] have so much more respect for her. So it's been a nice surprise in our relationship that she had this book and we got to fill in some of the holes that might've been there from before and fill in some of what happened [in the past]."
During the interview, the singer-songwriter further shared how working on Dinner for Vampires' audiobook led to a "new level of closeness" between the co-stars of the TV drama series that aired from 2003 to 2012.
"We talked a little bit about the past while she was writing the book and then I did some of the audiobook with her. And yeah, I think that we've kind of gotten to a new level of closeness because we had feelings for each other and we had a whole vibe when we were in our early twenties that she talks about in the book."
Hilton also shared that while working on her book, they discussed their previous romantic relationship and found out that they both felt much more than they expressed to each other during their time on the show. The Hilton also recalled how Bethany's cult disapproved of him, leading to a breakup.
A look at the relationship between Tyler Hilton and Bethany Joy Lenz
Bethany Joy Lenz, who played Haley James Scott on One Tree Hill, wrote about her life in Dinner for Vampire, which tells about her challenging experience of living in a cult. Although the characters of Hilton and Lenz got married in the final season, their real-life romance came to an end when the cult rejected Hilton for Lenz.
In a TikTok video clip shared on November 19, Tyler Hilton can be heard sharing her past experience with his co-star Lenz.
“I started writing [songs] with her and hanging with her, and then, you know, we really fell for each other. We started to catch feelings for real, and we were hanging out all the time,” the actor recalled.
However, things didn't work out as the cult attended one of their concerts and disapproved of Tyler Hilton by saying, "He's not the vibe."
Also read: Who won Jeopardy! Tonight? April 28, 2025, Monday
While discussing the book on the Call Her Daddy podcast in October 2024, Bethany shared that she got married to the cult leader's son in 2011 and got separated in 2012 due to a lack of emotional bonding. Tyler Hilton, on the other hand, tied the nuptial knot with actor Megan Park in 2015, and they have two kids together.
