Bethany Joy Lenz is thanking her daughter for giving her motherhood and freedom.
The One Tree Hill alum, whose memoir Dinner for Vampires: Live on Cult TV (While also in an Actual Cult) released Oct. 22, shared how her 13-year-old daughter Rosie inspired her leaving The Big House Family organization, which she has previously referred to as a “cult.”
“I left because of my daughter,” Bethany revealed on an Oct. 22 episode of Good Morning America. “I left because it was that time.”
The 43-year-old—who shares Rosie with ex-husband Michael Galeotti Jr.—shared that it was welcoming her little girl that made her realize how problematic her situation had become.
“I remember having this thought, I said, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me and why I will allow myself to be treated this way, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to allow this to happen to her.’” Bethany continued. “We gotta get out.”
In the weeks leading up to her memoir’s release, Bethany has detailed the horrors of her experience in the ultra-Christian group founded by her former father-in-law Michael Galeotti Sr.
“The stakes were so high,” Bethany—who became acquainted with the group at just 20 years old—recalled to People earlier this month. “They were my only friends. I was married into this group. I had built my entire life around it. If I admitted that I was wrong—everything else would come crumbling down.”
And while the actress left the Big House Family for the sake of Rosie, her ex-husband—whom she divorced in 2012 after seven years of marriage—recently spoke out against her memoir, citing the “problems” it may cause for the couple’s daughter.
“I don't know what to make of this memoir after all this time," Michael told the Daily Mail in an interview published Oct. 22. “I have a daughter who's really important to me. I don't want it to affect her. It's too much. I don't really want to cause any problems for her.”
E! News has reached out to reps for Bethany regarding Michael’s comments and has not yet heard back.
But still, more than a decade after their divorce, Bethany holds some sympathy for her ex and the environment he grew up in.
“It's so sad because he—like the poor guy never had a shot," she explained on an Oct. 16 episode of Call Her Daddy. “[He] was raised by this narcissist. He's thrust into a marriage with a girl that's not right for him. He's doing the best that he can."