‘One Tree Hill’ Star Bethany Joy Lenz Addresses Hilarie Burton Feud Rumors

Amid developments of the One Tree Hill sequel series, Bethany Joy Lenz is addressing rumors of a possible feud with co-star Hilarie Burton. The two starred on the WB/CW drama as Haley James Scott and Peyton Sawyer, respectively, with Burton exiting in the Season 6 finale. They then hosted the Drama Queens rewatch podcast with Sophia Bush, with Burton again stepping down after finishing up with the sixth season due to her no longer being on the series.

While all seemed fine with them, there have been rumors that tension had been brewing between them in recent months. Via E! News, Lenz shared on the Call Her Daddy podcast that she loves Burton. “I have always and will always, and I don’t have any problem with her,” Lenz said. “There have been some bizarre misunderstandings that I really hope we can figure out one day, but I love that girl. We’re going through the motions of close friendship but not actually knowing how to connect. It’s hard.”

Lenz didn’t get into the nitty-gritty of her relationship with Burton, understandably, but it does sound like there aren’t any hard feelings, regardless of whatever happened, which is nice to know. It is still questionable that Lenz isn’t on board for the new OTH series, which Burton and Bush are attached to, as well as fellow co-star Danneel Ackles, who is producing under her Chaos Machine banner with husband Jensen Ackles. As of now, it’s unknown if she’ll be part of it, but the series is still in early development at Netflix. It’s always possible.

Burton is not the only co-star that Lenz has had struggles with, as she admitted she struggled to connect with Bush while starring on One Tree Hill throughout the show’s nine-season run. “I think we were both approaching life from a similar way, but from opposite perspectives,” Lenz explained. “Because the conclusions that we had come to about life and God and all those things were very different. There just was no space for listening. She would have been much more quick to listen to my perspective and hear me than I would have been at the time.”

Even the best of friendships drift apart, and sometimes they rekindle, other times they don’t. It does seem like Bethany Joy Lenz has all the intention, or at least hope, of rebuilding her friendship with Hilarie Burton, and one can only hope that they’re both able to do it.