“One Tree Hill” star Hilarie Burton has been very open about her time on the beloved teen drama. Over the years, the actress has documented the sexual harassment she faced at the hands of the show’s executive producer, Mark Schwahn. So after Burton stopped speaking to Schwahn, he wrote himself into an episode, and his character heavily interacted with hers.
Burton opened up about the encounter during her “Drama Queens” podcast, which she hosts with former “One Tree Hill” costars Sophia Bush and Bethany Joy Lenz. In the episode titled “Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace,” Schwahn plays the role of Max. In addition, there was also physical contact between his character and Burton’s on-screen alter-ego, Peyton Sawyer.
Hilarie Burton details uncomfortable One Tree Hill filming moment
“I wasn’t speaking to him in real life, and so he wrote himself into the episode of me hugging him. It was so creepy. I got the script and I was like, ‘All right, it’s one day of work. It’s just one day of work.’ And you know my boyfriend’s dad [Gregory Prange] was directing, and my brother’s on set. There’s all these dudes on set and it just wasn’t quite enough, so I invited my dad to work this day and my dad came and sat behind the monitor the whole day. You can’t touch me, you can’t pull me into a sidebar conversation, you can’t do any of that if I’m just making jokes with my dad,” Burton explained.
Hilarie Burton went on to add that the men in her life helped her out by sending a message to Schwahn, whom she referred to as Voldemort. “Voldemort goes off to the production office where his office has like a view of the parking lot. And my dad and [sound mixer Michael Rayle, a former animal trainer and fellow whip enthusiast] proceed to go out to parking and pull out bullwhips and start doing all these tricks and cracking them real loud. It was just like a message, like: Don’t. What an awkward day at work,” she added.
Peyton and Lucas both left OTH after Season 6
Burton’s treatment behind the scenes of “One Tree HIll” is one of the reasons that the actress left the show after Season 6. Her character was written off alongside co-star Chad Michael Murray’s Lucas Scott. However, she has remained close with her former cast members.
For years, fans have been hoping to get news of a “OTH” revival. Viewers would love to see the “One Tree Hill” cast get back together for new episodes. The show could even dive into the lives of the original cast’s fictional children.
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