‘One Tree Hill’ Cast Secrets Revealed on ‘Drama Queens’ Podcast

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One Tree Hill’s Hilarie Burton, Bethany Joy Lenz and Sophia Bush Reveal Casting Secrets, Crushes and More on ‘Drama Queens’ Podcast

Sometimes all you need is one … podcast. From the moment that Hilarie Burton, Bethany Joy Lenz and Sophia Bush launched the “Drama Queens” podcast, they started spilling One Tree Hill secrets.

The actresses, who starred in the hit CW series as Peyton, Haley and Brooke, respectively, launched the podcast in June 2021 to recap all 187 episodes and share their experiences from filming in Wilmington, North Carolina.

“I have not seen anything since I left, and I never saw the last three seasons,” Burton, who exited the series at the end of season 6 in 2009, said during the “Drama Queens” premiere episode. “Frankly, I’m nervous about rewatching because, it’s like, I know it’s gonna be painful to watch myself learn how to act on camera.”

Bush echoed her thoughts, adding that landing a main role on the show with very little prior acting experience was “kind of like being pushed off a cliff and trying to get our skydiving backpack on at the same time.” She added, “It’s a wonder none of us is dead!”

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During the podcast, the former costars not only break down different episodes and story lines but also share behind the scenes secrets — from recasting news to last-minute hair drama.

“I dyed my hair every color in the book over the years,” the Love, Victor star shared during one episode. “[One summer,] I had dyed my hair black and I cut bangs. … Our boss, who shall not be named, lost his marbles that I cut bangs because he was like, ‘All the cheerleaders never paid me the time of day in high school all had bangs and they were bitches!’ Our hair was kind of this battle!”

The show’s creator, Mark Schwahn, was accused of sexual misconduct in 2017 — claims that were backed up by Bush, Burton, Lenz and 15 other costars on the show. He never responded to the allegations and they have yet to name him on the podcast.

Scroll through the gallery below for the biggest revelations from the One Tree Hill rewatch podcast:

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Credit: Courtesy of Bethany Joy Lenz/Instagram

The Porn Story Line

During the November 15 episode, the women reflected on the porn story line from the show. During season 1, Haley gets upset when she discovers porn on Nathan’s computer. Originally, her friends tell her that she has his heart and that’s all that matters, which she goes along with. However, Lenz changed that — and it wasn’t easy.

“I remember going home after I got the script. I fought for the changes that they would allow ahead of time, and then when I got there on the day, whatever else I wanted to change I just did,” Lenz explained. “Looking back now as an adult, wouldn’t they value a young woman in her 20s’ opinion about who women are and how women feel about pornography? Why would they not welcome that? Why did I have to fight f–king tooth and nail? I went home crying. It was constant arguments with them about everything. ‘Joy, why do you have to be so difficult? Why can’t you just do what you’re being asked to do? It’s in the script, just show up and say your lines?’”

Credit: YouTube

Whitey as Narrator?

“When I first got the job, it was called Ravens and the arc throughout everything was narrated by Barry Corbin, by Whitey, and he was describing everything that happened in the town to his dead wife, Camilla,” Burton explained in the pilot recap episode. “That was the tone. It was, like, a really sweet, small-town aw-shucks kind of show.” 

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From ‘8 Mile’ to ‘The O.C.’

The White Collar actress added that the tone of the show began as “an aw-shucks town but with this 8 Mile underbelly of the kid from the wrong side of the tracks.” However, that changed when The O.C. debuted. “We had to turn up the sexy, it was, like, a bait and switch,” she said. “I’m like, ‘Do we get a say? Do we get to have an opinion about it?’ Which we didn’t, we just had to turn up the sexy.”

Credit: YouTube

Crushing on Keith

After watching the pilot, all three women agreed that Craig Sheffer, who played Keith Scott, was “hot” on the show. In fact, Lenz had a crush on him.

“Years later, I had kind of gotten over my crush with him and we were at dinner and Paul [Johansson], who loves seeing people in awkward, uncomfortable situations — it’s just pure comedy to him — so, true to Paul, he goes, ‘Hey, Sheff, you know Joy had a massive crush on you. She was in love with you,'” Lenz explained. “I just turned beet red.”

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Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Keith?

Meanwhile, Burton shared that when she first met her now-husband, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, he admitted he actually auditioned to play the role of Keith. “He was like, ‘Yeah, you know, I liked the whole gritty garage guy, that edgy thing,'” the former VJ recalled. “Had Jeff shown up in those tight jeans that Sheff was wearing, I would have definitely had kids earlier!”

Credit: Fred Norris/The CW

Brooke Davis’ Original Name

“Her name wasn’t even Brooke Davis. It was Tara. No. Like, 1,000 percent no. … It just doesn’t feel right,” Bush explained of her character’s first moniker. “I remember when we were getting everything settled and one of our writers was, like, well, ‘What name do you like?’ and they suggested a couple. My best friend from college is a girl named Brooke and she is just, like, one of those people that is so chic. Like, she can put on something that is actually expensive and beautiful or she can put on a Zara T-shirt and it looks like a designer.”

The Chicago P.D. alum added that her friend was “so unabashedly bold” and “so herself,” which was something she knew Brooke Davis should also be.

Credit: Courtesy of Sam Shelton/Instagram; Shutterstock

The Original Haley

After watching the pilot episode, the women reflected on Lenz joining the show at a later point — and why that happened. “It had originally been a character named Raegan. It was played by Sam Shelton, who’s an awesome actress. Great singer, her and Zooey Deschanel had a duo at the time,” Burton explained. “She was so cool and so fun, but when I was told that they were recasting her it was specifically because they wanted Nathan and Haley to become a couple and Sam just wasn’t right for that. Those two didn’t work. Sam was older than I was. … Really different chemistry.”

Credit: Courtesy of Hilarie Burton/Instagram

The Age Gap

While recapping episode two of the series, Burton revealed filming a makeout scene with James Lafferty made her realize how young he was. She was 21 at the time, while he was 17. “Finally they yell, ‘Cut,’ and James goes, ‘Ssorg.’ I said, ‘Ssorg? What is Ssorg?’” she recalled. “He goes, ‘Gross backwards.’ I was like, ‘Oh, my God. I’m talking to a teenager right now.’”

She also was uncomfortable about the age difference, adding, “There was a reality thing in the back of my mind, like, ‘Am I going to prison?’”

Credit: Courtesy of Sophia Bush/Instagram

Bringing Home the Baggage

Bush shared that she was told to stop bringing home stray dogs as a kid. Years later, when she was in her 20s, he made the same comment about her love life, telling her, “No more sick puppies. Rescue dogs, not people.”

Credit: Courtesy of Bethany Joy Lenz/Instagram

Not Being Prude

Lenz said that she chose which Haley content she fought against with the producers because when joining the show, she was told, “This show is about f—king and sucking,” so she didn’t want to be too “prude.”

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The Couple Trajectory

Each actor was told different things about the love stories on the show. In season 2, Burton was told Peyton and Jake (Bryan Greenberg) were “endgame,” while Bush knew from the start that Peyton and Lucas were the main love story.  

Lenz also assumed Haley and Lucas would get together. “I think that’s what they were originally going for, but Chad and I had no chemistry, so it just didn’t work,” the singer said. “Our energy was so sibling-ness, that didn’t happen.”

While she thought Haley’s story line with Nathan was brought in just as another conflict with Lucas and the plan changed when she and Lafferty had chemistry, Burton was told after the pilot that Nathan and Haley were getting together.

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That Naked Scene

During episode three, Lucas’ clothes get stolen while he’s showering in the locker room, forcing him to walk into the hall with only basketballs to cover himself.

“Apparently what they did was they cut a hole in the basketball for Chad to …” Lenz said during the July 12 episode. Burton then asked if the ball would have deflated, but none of them knew the answer.

“It was, like, paper mache, I don’t know,” the Guiding Light alum added. “It was some big, like, prop thing that they made for him. … Basketball jockstrap!” 

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Was Brooke a Virgin?

While recapping episode four, the cast wondered whether Brooke was a virgin before hooking up with Lucas in season 1. “We were all talking about this after the last episode. I think Hilarie, you said, ‘I always got the sense that Brooke was actually a virgin,’ and I think so too,” Bush said during the July 19 episode. “I think that what resonated with me about her was a girl who only was taught to validate herself by other people’s opinions … The shame and the desire to be liked, she leans into it.”

Credit: The CW/Hulu

A Recast

After recapping the fourth episode in July 2021, Burton revealed that Thomas Ian Griffith, the actor who originally was cast as Peyton’s dad, was recast after season 1 because the writers told her, “You two are too flirty.” Griffith appeared as Larry Sawyer for five episodes in 2004; when Larry returned the following year, he was played by Kevin Kilner. Bush tried to explain what was probably happening, adding, “Maybe because they were all inviting us out to bars — you often see what you do, not what exists.”

During the episode, guest Barbara Alyn Woods revealed that at one point, she was told to stop touching her onscreen son’s chest in scenes.

“I would touch [James Lafferty’s] chest, like, ‘My baby!’ The network gave me a note,” she recalled. “[They] called my agent and said, ‘We want her to stop touching his chest. It just seems a little bit too close for a mom.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, my God. I’m so sorry if I crossed a line,’ but, man. … I was afraid to go near him after that!”

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Moving for the Role

Woods also said during the fourth episode recap that after she nailed the audition for the role, she was told they were going to hire someone “locally.” So, she found a cousin that lived within the parameters and moved in with her to get cast.

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Whitey and Deb?

Barry Corbin, who played Coach Whitey, had a crush on Woods, she revealed during the fourth episode. “He went for a few times, let me just say,” she said. “Being in public, [we] felt a little bit under the table, just checking it out to see if I was interested. In a respectful way. … He’s a flirt!”

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‘I Felt Like a Prostitute’

During the August 9 episode, Burton recalled having to undress Murray while filming season 1 episode seven’s kissing scene. “I was, like, crying in my trailer. I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this. It feels dirty. It feels like they’re trying to sex everything up,'” she said at the time. “I felt like a prostitute. It was the first moment that I was, like, ‘I’m kissing someone for money. I’m getting paid to do this, like, performative [thing].’ … There’s a morality thing where you’re like, ‘Am I a sex worker in a way? Is this OnlyFans in 2003?'”

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Real-Life Engagements

The women reflected on their own romances that took place while recapping episode seven, joking about how they’ve all been engaged multiple times — and have been warned to “be careful” when entering certain relationships.

“Sometimes you should listen when people tell you to be careful and you’re young and you don’t know what you’re doing in relationships,” Bush, who was married to Murray from 2005 to 2006, said. Burton later joked that they have a “dozen” engagements between the three of them.

“For all of my major relationships, I had people tell me ‘red flag,’ ‘I’m concerned,’ ‘Are you sure?’ I was just so stubborn and determined that I knew what I was doing. It’s hard to listen to,” Lenz said, with Bush agreeing.

“Same. My face is very hot. Yep,” the Love, Victor star shared. “What’s interesting about it is that in a way, I think about it in particular for the three of us going through those real-life trials and tribulations together while selling a fairy tale on screen. … We’ve all been asked big questions by men we decided were not our people.”

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A Word of Mouth

During episode seven, Bush shared something Lee Norris (who portrayed Mouth on the series) once told her that she felt applied to all of the women.

“Lee said to me, ‘It’s really interesting how guys can date all of their dream girls before they settle down and people say, “Good for you.” But you ladies get treated like you don’t deserve the same process of trial and error,'” she recalled. “He said, ‘I wish that for you, rather than people judging your personal life, people were like, “Wow they must be so special that all these guys have tried to get them to marry them.”‘” 

Credit: The CW

The Assault Episode

While recapping season 1, episode eight, the hour during which Peyton is roofied at a college party, the women reflected on the awful picture the script painted.

“The girls start off shopping in a lingerie store and the result is that she’s sexually assaulted,” Burton said during the August episode. “Nowhere in there is the conversation, like, you did not ask for this. It’s just assumed you dressed in cheetah print like a slut at a party and this is what happens. … I wish we had done a better job with that.”

All three stars agreed that if the episode had been written today, the women would have — and should have then — reported the assault.

“There is something that’s so deeply traumatic about the realization as a young woman that you move through the world and — by more people than you thought — are looked at as prey rather than a real person and we really did just gloss over that,” Bush noted.

Lenz then recalled a time when she was 20 living in New York City hanging out with a group of friends outside. She said that after she made a “kind of flirty” comment, one that she would say to her girlfriends, one of the older guys approached her.

“I remember he grabbed me, he picked me up and shoved me against a wall and preceded his whole body up against me and he said, ‘You better be careful talking like that.’ Everybody kind of just, like, stopped. He just held me for a minute up against the wall, then set me down and was kinda like, ‘Oh I taught her a lesson, ha ha.’ Didn’t say that but that was the attitude,” the former soap star said. “I remember just having to let the emotion just drop off of me because I couldn’t process it. All my friends were there, and they didn’t know what to do. … That moment has stuck with me my whole life, that feeling of I’m not safe to just be myself because it might incite violence. It’s really scary.”

Credit: The CW

Not So Fun

During season 1, episode nine, Lucas supposedly got the word “fun” tattooed on his arm in Chinese characters. In reality, the Mandarin characters meant “have,” the women revealed during the August 23 episode of their podcast. “I remember Mark and the writers roasting Chad, because they were like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna say Lucas got a tattoo that says “fun” and it says something else.'”

Credit: Dave Allocca/Starpix/Shutterstock

That Condom Scene

While recapping episode 10, Bush revealed she’s still extremely uncomfortable by the scene of Brooke and Lucas buying condoms. “As soon as we were in that grocery store, I pulled my sweatshirt up around my face because I was like, ‘Oh no, oh no, oh no. I know what this scene is,'” she recalled during the August 30 episode. “I was so embarrassed then. I realize that as an adult human it’s silly that I’m still mortified. I’m still mortified by that scene. … It was so uncomfortable to do the scene. The second-hand embarrassment that I had having to do it. And now that I feel!”

Credit: Courtesy of The CW

The Hot Tub

While recapping episode 11 on September 6, the activist explained that the scene when Brooke undresses in front of Lucas and then seduces him in a hot tub led to a huge fight with the writers.

“That was the scene that led to my first-ever screaming fight with my bosses and I did what I said I was gonna do,” she explained on the podcast. “I came to work for the next scene wearing a turtleneck. I was like, ‘Watch me! This is completely inappropriate!'”

Credit: Courtesy of Sophia Bush/Instagram

The Photo Shoots

The cast spoke about shooting promo photo shoots, specifically one where the entire cast laid in a bed. After the edits came through, the women were surprised.

“What I remember is it was the first time I’d been airbrushed,” Burton said on the September 13 episode. “When I worked at MTV and they did VJ photos, they didn’t make us look different than we did. … In this photo shoot, we get the pictures back and, like, my boobs are way bigger!”

Bush added that she felt the same, and asked, “Whose boobs are these?” to which Burton replied, “Beats the heck out of me, man. I’ve been an A-cup my whole life.”

Credit: The CW

Tension

Burton explained that the “more friction” she has with a costar in real life, the better chemistry they have when the cameras begin rolling.

“Everyone knows Chad and I in season 1 were two butting heads. We didn’t necessarily agree on anything. We grew to get along but in season 1, because our characters were so being thrust together and I was aware of the [audience’s] want for it to be real,” she said. “People want to think it’s real, so I was overcompensating for that and so I’d be real sh–ty with Chad all the time.”

Credit: The CW

Haley and Nathan Only

Lenz noted that while fans wanted her with Lafferty in real life, they never crossed that line.

“James and I always got on really well, but he was a lot younger than me. It just didn’t really occur to me to have personal, romantic feelings for him. But as the show went on and the more time we spent together, I would totally have, like, a romantic dream about him and wake up and be like, ‘Oh! Wow, that was interesting,'” she said. “We’re kissing all day! We’re, like, making out and being all lovey-dovey, of course, it’s gonna work its way into your subconscious. But we never ever got together in real life and that’s, honestly, probably what kept the chemistry alive onscreen for so long.”

Credit: YouTube

Moira Kelly’s Regrets

The actress, who portrayed Lucas’ mom, Karen, on the drama, joined for the October 25 episode, telling the hosts that she felt like she let them down. “If I had been more present, I would have been more aware maybe of what was going on, I surely would have said something,” Kelly shared at the time, seemingly referring to the allegations about Shwahn’s behavior. “I surely would have done something, and so, if I could go back and do anything different, I would make my presence so solid on that show and I would have made myself so available to all of you.”

Later in the episode, Burton explained that Kelly was the person who gave her permission to leave the show when everyone else told her to stay. “I don’t know what would have happened to me if I stayed. I met my husband [Jeffrey Dean Morgan]. My son [Gus] exists because Moira Kelly told me to run and so I did,” she said. “I just think about how different my life would be if she wasn’t that one person to give me permission to just go.”

Credit: YouTube

Uncle Keith’s Death Shocked Craig Sheffer

In an April 2022 episode, Sheffer revealed that Schwahn specifically told him that Uncle Keith was based on the creator’s brother, so Sheffer didn’t have to worry about being written off the series. That changed when Keith was killed off in season 3.

“He goes, ‘I’ve got some really exciting news for you. It’s gonna be the best season ever.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I was wondering when you were gonna [call]. I didn’t even get a call, so I didn’t know what was going on. I had my agent call yesterday and nobody returned his call,’” he explained to the “Drama Queens” hosts. “He goes, ‘Yeah, so good news and bad news.’ Tells me all about this great thing, [and says,] ‘And then Paul shoots you.’ I go, ‘OK, so I’m dead? Does that mean I don’t get paid anymore?’ He was like, ‘Yeah.’ I was like, ‘Dude, you told me.’ Not only was it cheesy, but the way it was handled. You don’t call me and talk to me about it?”
The actor also alleged that there was a “power struggle” on set. “They threatened to fire me about my boots. … It got to a point where they’re calling my agent like, ‘If this power struggle is going to continue, we’re just going to get rid of him.’ That kind of stuff, they break down your soul,” he claimed.

Credit: Dave Allocca/Starpix/Shutterstock

The Sly Bullying Clapback

“We worked for some people who not only picked on us as women and on our friendships but really picked on us all physically in ways that were real s–tty. They just felt terrible,” Bush explained while recapping season 3, episode 13,  which includes a scene of Rachel telling Mouth to pick on women to get their attention. 

Burton chimed to recall how many times her character was called “anorexic” while Lenz alleged that she was called “fat ass” by the producers behind her back. 

“It was interesting too because they figured out how to bully everybody,” Bush alleged of their former bosses. “Like Hilarie, they bullied you for being skinny and they always bullied me for not being as skinny as you. There was always a thing, and it just felt horrible. And I think the three of us just when ‘ugh’ when we heard those words coming out of Rachel’s mouth because it just felt familiar and bad.”

She added that the dialogue was “overtly exact phrases that had come out of his mouth,” referring to creator Schwahn.  

However, it was the character Rachel repeating the things Schwahn allegedly said. Mouth rejected Rachel’s commentary and said it wasn’t right at all, which the hosts believe is because a female writer penned the episode.

“It’s genius-level trolling,” Burton added, speaking of the screenwriter. “When they said certain things about Rachel, it was like, ‘Oh my God, those are the things Mark used to pick on.’ And what Mouth said is. ‘Oh, my god, I can’t find any flaws in this. You’re perfect, and I’m not going to come after you physically and kiss you because it’s inappropriate.’ So it’s basically a female writer’s way of putting him in check, just being like, ‘no.'”

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The Maxim Shoot

During a November 2022 episode, Bush claimed that she was pressured into doing a 2006 Maxim photo shoot with Burton and Danneel Ackles, who played Rachel on OTH.

“I was like, ‘Look, if the girls want to do it, that’s great. I don’t. I have gone to battle trying to make Brooke less of this thing that you guys tried to force me into. I don’t want to do it.’ I literally got told, ‘If you do not go and shoot this cover with your costars, we will guarantee you that you will never be let out for a press day, a movie, an event, any of your charities. We will keep you here forever,'” the California native claimed.

Burton recalled feeling backed into a corner as well, claiming that Schwahn told her, “’Look, all the other shows have been on the cover of every single magazine, and no one wants you guys. No one wants you and you finally have someone that wants you and you’re really gonna turn your nose up at that? … [If] you don’t start to generate some buzz and attract these male numbers, we’re dead and all your friends are going to lose their jobs.’”

Lenz, for her part, alleged that she wasn’t approached to do the cover because she was seen as “too fat.” Bush claimed that the OTH production team told her that her costar had turned down the opportunity.

“They scapegoated you to tell the three of us we couldn’t say no. … We weren’t mad at you, but we were pissed about it,” the John Tucker Must Die actress said.