Jana Kramer and James Lafferty were not best friends on the set of One Tree Hill, but it was not necessarily by choice.
The actress, who played Alex Dupré, is opening up about the series’ backstage drama and revealing how one person on the set “made hell” for the cast.
Kramer talked about the cliques on set during the January 31 episode of his podcast, Whine Down with Jana Kramer and Michael Caussin, which featured Lafferty and others One Tree Hill Co-star Stephen Colletti.
She explained that she was “definitely closer” to Stephen (aka Chase Adams), because they had several scenes together. She had “very few” scenes with Lafferty (aka Nathan Scott), but implied that that was not the only reason she was not so close to the actor during the shoot.
“When I was on the show … there were only a few, not mean, but just, ‘You can’t talk to that person if you’re friends with them,'” she said. “So, I wasn’t very close to James because of certain situations on the set at the time.”
The most sincere confessions of Jana Kramer and Mike Caussin
Kramer continued, “But now everyone is very close, and it’s kind of frustrating because I’m like, ‘Why couldn’t we all be friends then? And you made the beginners’ lives hell.’ But it’s cool. “
For the record, Kramer first appeared on the show in 2009, two years after Colletti and six years after Lafferty. As fans know, Nathan was one of the original characters, along with Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray), Brooke Davis (Sophia Bush), Haley James (Bethany Joy Lenz) and more.
Kramer continued, “But now it’s annoying, because they all say, ‘We’re all friends now’, and I’m just like you, a person, would literally make things hell for us, because if we chose the wrong friend, we would be destroyed. “
She did not reveal the identity of “a person” who dictated social circles and the power dynamics on the set.
The country singer previously spoke about the tension when Lenz was on her podcast in 2019. At the time, Kramer shared: “It was difficult for us, because I felt that when we came to the program, being so honest, it was a very divided set.” added: “I feel like everyone already had their seats and it was either, will you be on ‘team A’ or on ‘team B?’ It was just complicated. “
She hinted that the showrunner Mark Schwahn essentially “created that environment.” Several women accused him of sexual harassment in 2017.
Lenz also admitted that he felt the division between the co-stars. She said to Kramer: “It would be great to come back and not feel that I was divided in any way or when we were going through a difficult period.”
Despite the drama, this week Colletti and Lafferty confessed that they missed Wilmington, North Carolina, where they filmed One Tree Hill. Colletti said: “It was a beautiful place. It was nice to spend time on the East Coast.”
Lafferty agreed, saying that he “fell in love with that place” as well as with his “family” on the set.
“There were so many people on both sides of the camera who were there from day one,” as he said. “Meeting people like that for nine years, the older I get, the more I realize how rarer it is … So it was really special. I look back fondly.”
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Originally published