Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While also in an Actual Cult!)

Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show While Also in an Actual Cult! (2024) by Bethany Joy Lenz—who goes by “Joy”—is a New York Times bestselling memoir about Joy’s experiences on the set of the 2000s teen drama One Tree Hill while being a member of a small Christian cult called the Family. The memoir describes how the cult leader, Les, and other members manipulated Joy’s desire for community and Christian faith to draw her deeper into the toxic, controlling, patriarchal group while isolating her from her family and coworkers. Joy, who played the character Haley James Scott on the show, was in an abusive marriage with Les’s son that contrasted sharply with the fairy tale romance she had on the show. After the birth of her daughter, Rosie, Joy finally made the difficult decision to leave her husband and the cult.

This guide references the 2024 Simon and Schuster hardcover edition of Dinner for Vampires.

Content Warning: The source material features depictions of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, and stigmatization of mental health issues. The text also includes a brief mention of substance abuse and an offensive term for Latinos.

Plot Summary

In the Prologue, Joy describes a fight between her husband, whom she refers to throughout as the Quiet Boy or QB or Q, and herself.