One Tree Hill’s Bethany Joy Lenz Reveals She and Costar Paul Johansson Have Kissed IRL

Haley James may have been in love with a certain Scott onscreen, but it turns out the actress playing her had a moment with his father off screen. 

Bethany Joy Lenz recently shocked all of fictional One Tree Hill, North Carolina, when she shared that she and Paul Johansson—who played her nefarious father-in-law Dan Scott in the series—not only locked lips in the show's 1940s-themed standalone episode, but also in real life. 

Though she didn't reveal any details about when the alleged smooch occurred, the 42-year-old revealed on the Feb. 24 episode of her Drama Queens podcast, "I have kissed Paul in real life and he's a good kisser."

Her admission shocked her cohosts and former costars Hilarie Burton Morgan and Sophia Bush who pressed her for more details. However, all she simply replied with was, "Well you know, we're friends, you're not friends, you never know what's gonna happen."

E! News has reached out to reps for Paul for comment but has not heard back.

But while she kept her lips sealed about their offscreen moment, Bethany did recall how odd it felt to kiss Paul in the season six episode, especially given her character—who spent most of the series wed to James Lafferty's Nathan Scott—was forced into the kiss. 

"It felt strange, because we were definitely super close by then, really he was probably my best friend on the show at the time," she remembered. "But he's a good kisser so it was weird in that moment to be having a struggle kiss with someone who's a friend."

Bethany also detailed the lead up to the moment her character slapped Paul—who in the episode played the rival club owner to her jazz singer—after their kiss.

"And then slapping him in the face," she said. "He was like, 'Just hit me,' And I'm like, 'Paul I don't wanna hit you'—'Just hit me!—'Alright!' So I smacked him, but what you saw on camera was the real deal for sure."

In their Drama Queens podcast, Bethany, Hilarie and Sophia review each episode of The CW series, which ended in 2012 after nine seasons, discussing the episode content itself as well as all the behind-the-scenes details and drama viewers might not have been privy to. While not everything the three discuss is positive—in fact Sophia previously spoke about the podcast acting as a way for the stars to reclaim the show for themselves—one of the constants is their love for each other and the rest of their cast. 

In fact, in November many One Tree Hill alum reunited to celebrate the show's 20th anniversary. 

"Got to hang out with some great humans this weekend," Austin Nichols, who played Julian Baker on the drama, wrote on Instagram after the reunion. "Old friends. Old stories. Lots of laughs. And made a bunch of new friends. Thank you to everyone who made this happen!" 

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