Tragic Real-Life Details About The Cast Of One Tree Hill

The following article includes references to mental health issues, domestic violence, spiritual abuse, and sexual harassment.

During its nine-season run, "One Tree Hill" regularly wrung tears out of its viewers with its tragic storylines. There were kidnappings, devastating deaths, stalkings, car accidents galore, a school-shooting episode, that infamous dog-eats-donor-heart incident, and so much heartbreak as the characters played romantic musical chairs. The producers and writers milked that cash cow of suffering for all that it was worth, all while some of the show's stars experienced real-life trauma on the set.

In 2017, members of the cast and crew came forward to accuse series creator Mark Schwahn of sexual harassment and verbal abuse. Hilarie Burton told Variety that he kissed and touched her without her consent on multiple occasions, and she joined 16 other women in signing a letter condemning Schwahn's alleged predatory and abusive behavior. Burton would later tell People she regretted not sharing her experience sooner. "As a result of that, people were abused after me," she said. "The guilt that comes with that is really difficult." On "Radio Andy," Sophia Bush recalled how she was sexually harassed by Schwahn, saying that he groped her butt. She also told Andy Cohen that she felt pressure from her "One Tree Hill" bosses to marry her co-star and real-life romantic partner Chad Michael Murray — something she wasn't ready to do.

Some "One Tree Hill" cast members have also endured traumatic experiences unrelated to their time on the show, from devastating losses to abusive treatment and even brushes with death.

In 2010, Hilarie Burton and Jeffrey Dean Morgan celebrated the birth of their first child, a son they named Augustus "Gus" Morgan. Sadly, when Burton learned she was pregnant with their daughter George Virginia eight years later, she wasn't eager to share the happy news with anyone. This is because Burton suffered three miscarriages after her son's birth. The haunting memory of her second pregnancy's painful end and the subsequent losses made the actor more apprehensive than excited about being an expectant mom. She shared the heartbreaking story of her first miscarriage on Instagram, writing, "I surprised [Morgan] on Christmas with baby Seahawk booties. We cried. We celebrated. We picked out names. And we lost that baby."

At one point, Burton and Morgan's struggle to conceive started doing serious damage to the couple's relationship by removing the romance from their lovemaking. In her book "The Rural Diaries: Love, Livestock, and Big Life Lessons Down on Mischief Farm," Burton writes, "He'd feel used and wouldn't respond to me, and then I'd feel hurt and rejected. It was a vicious, unhappy cycle." She also told Us Weekly she struggled with feelings of depression and distress because her bond with Morgan wasn't being strengthened by their shared grief over the miscarriages. Thankfully, that chapter of their lives had a happy ending. After George's birth, Burton wrote on Instagram, "I see her in her daddy's arms and I don't take any of it for granted."

Sophia Bush has experienced several tragedies throughout her life. In April 2015, she found herself mourning the loss of one of her exes, Google engineer Dan Fredinburg. He was climbing Mount Everest when a massive earthquake hit Nepal, causing deadly avalanches on the snowy peak. He was the only member of his expedition crew who died. 

Bush remained friends with Fredinburg after they broke up in early 2014, and the "One Tree Hill" star opened up to Health magazine about her struggle coming to terms with his death. "There were days I felt like my body had been turned inside out," she said. "I felt like my heart was on the outside of my body and everyone who came near me was stabbing me."

This wasn't the only time Bush's life was marked by a tragedy that resulted in the loss of multiple lives. When gunman Jared Lee Loughner opened fire in the parking lot of a Tucson supermarket in 2011, Bush's 9-year-old cousin, Christina Green, was among the six people who were killed. Bush appeared on "Chelsea Lately" a few days after the mass shooting and expressed sadness over her cousin's life being cut so tragically short. Bush revealed that she never had the opportunity to meet Green but had hoped to someday. "And now we can't," she said (via ET). "You've gotta take every day and you've gotta tell the people you love that you do."

Jana Kramer's rocky relationship with Mike Caussin ended in heartbreak for the "One Tree Hill" star due to Caussin's prolific infidelity. The breakdown of their marriage had to be especially hard for Kramer because she believed that she'd found happiness after escaping her abusive first marriage to Michael Gambino.

Kramer told People that Gambino was violent, possessive, and quick to anger. He'd work himself into a jealous rage and beat her, and he used fear and threats to keep her from leaving him. "He sent me a photo of my dogs on the freeway and said, 'I'm going to let them go if you don't come home,'" she recalled. 

The couple had been together for less than two years when one of Gambino's terrifying attacks left Kramer fearing for her life in 2005. "My grandpa has always been my angel, and I remember praying to him, saying, 'I don't even want to be here anymore because I don't know how to get out of his situation,'" she recalled on "GMA." Gambino had choked Kramer until she passed out, which earned him an attempted murder charge. After a five-year prison stint, he was released on parole in 2010. Kramer had to live with the terror of knowing that her abuser was free until Gambino died by suicide two years later. She said of her reaction to his death, "I felt bad because my first feeling was relief that he was gone."

In July 2022, Bevin Prince's husband, Bisnow CEO William Friend, died from a lightning strike. He'd been celebrating the Fourth of July weekend on a boat off the coast of North Carolina's Masonboro Island. It's so rare to be killed by lightning that Friend's death was only the third such fatality in the U.S. that year, according to WECT. However, he eerily spoke about how he would meet his demise mere moments before he got struck. "He lit a cigar, and he looked at my father, and he said, 'If we get struck by lightning, Mike, this is where I wanna be,'" Prince recalled to ABC News.

Prince was also out on the water that day, but she was in a different boat when the deadly storm started rolling in. A nurse in another nearby vessel rushed to help, and Friend was soon picked up by one of the local police department's boats. However, neither the officers onboard nor the EMT crew waiting onshore could resuscitate him. "Knowing that all the resources were there to potentially save him, I have to believe that something bigger beyond me was calling him," said Prince.

Hilarie Burton made an overnight drive to North Carolina to be with her former "One Tree Hill" co-star after hearing the sad news. "Her intention for being there was just to help in any way possible. ... I'm just eternally grateful," said Prince on "1on1 with Jon Evans."

Chad Michael Murray was originally the favorite to play Nathan Scott on "One Tree Hill," but according to E! News, he wanted the role of Nathan's half-brother, Lucas Scott. This is because Lucas was abandoned by a parent, a pain Murray knew all too well. However, it was his mother, not his dad, who walked out on Murray's family when he was 10. "She put me on the bus for school one morning, saying she was going out of town for a couple of weeks, [but] she didn't come back till I was 18," Murray told Seventeen. His father was raising five children on his own, so the family's financial situation wasn't great. "I had no stuff, no money, no friends," said Murray.

According to Murray, he felt like an outsider during high school and was bullied in elementary. "I had my two front teeth knocked out by a sixth grader in first grade. He picked me up and jacked me in the mouth," he recalled to PBS Kids. Murray also suffered a horrific injury at age 15 that sounds like something the "OTH" writers might conjure up: He almost died because his intestines had twisted, he was bleeding internally, and his abs were too tight. "They had a priest at the end of my bed, Murray said on "The Jess Cagle Show," adding, "It was the only time I ever saw my dad cry — well, one of two times."

Bethany Joy Lenz had two supportive fellow "One Tree Hill" alums by her side when she first opened up about her decade-long experience with a religious cult on "Drama Queens," her podcast co-hosts Sophia Bush and Hilarie Burton. 

In a later interview with Variety, Lenz revealed that she was involved with the unnamed organization the entire time she was filming "One Tree Hill." Her harrowing journey started when she joined a new Bible study group. "The person that was brought into the leadership position was sociopathic," she said. Some of Lenz's co-workers noticed the negative influence of the new people in her and became concerned. "For a while, they were all trying to save me and rescue me, which is lovely and so amazing to be cared about in that way," she said. "But I was very stubborn."

Lenz became alienated from her loved ones but was so enmeshed in the cult that the thought of leaving scared her. "There's so much that makes you feel depressed and lonely and all these horrible things that come with being in a deeply controlled environment like that," she said. Lenz shared that she was losing work because of the cult but lists becoming a mom in 2011 as one of her biggest incentives for severing that toxic tie. Unfortunately, her experience made it difficult for her to trust others. "There's been a lot of inner work," she said. "There's been a lot of therapy."

If you or anyone you know needs help with mental issues or may be the victim of domestic violence, spiritual abuse, or sexual abuse, contact the relevant resources below:

• The Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

• The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.

• The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).