One Tree Hill Fans Aren’t Buying Hilarie Burton’s Reason for Stepping Back From the Drama Queens Podcast

Why is Hilarie Burton stepping back from iHeartRadio’s Drama Queens podcast? Many One Tree Hill fans don’t think the DQ podcast cohosts are being entirely truthful about the reason behind her departure.

On July 7 former costars Bethany Joy Lenz, Sophia Bush, and Burton revealed that they are bringing in a “new queen” as they begin recapping seasons seven through nine of their hit teen series, which ran on the CW from 2003 to 2012. Burton’s character, Peyton Sawyer, no longer appears on One Tree Hill after season six, so an exit—or at least a step back—makes sense. From here on out, Bush and Lenz will be joined by actor Robert Buckley, who joined the series in season seven as sports agent Clay Evans in 2009.

“We have reached the end of my behind-the-scenes experience on the show, and so I really started to question what I brought to this, but also how we keep that storytelling alive and important,” Burton explained in the latest podcast episode. “And so as we head into seasons seven through nine, it was important that we introduced a new queen who could take over for me.”

While Burton, who also serves as an executive producer on the podcast, plans to “pop in here and there,” her exit signals the end of an era for listeners, who’ve been tuning into the trio’s recaps since June 2021. Even so, many fans have been bracing themselves for this announcement for months—and not just because of Burton’s exit after the season six finale, titled, “Remember Me as a Time of Day.”

Back in March fans noticed that Burton and Lenz did not follow each other on Instagram, despite both following Bush. At the time many began to suspect a feud between the cohosts over memoir cover art, based on Burton’s cryptic social media post about “imitation.” Meanwhile, Deuxmoi shared anonymous claims that Bush and Burton clashed with Lenz over her political opinions, particularly regarding LGBTQ+ rights. None of the women have commented on the rumors.

With this latest announcement, many Drama Queens fans believe Burton’s soft exit has more to do with Lenz than with her character’s story arc—and they’re not happy about it. “I cannot believe they made us relive Peyton Sawyer leaving the show for a second time in real life,” one fan said of the announcement in a TikTok video, which has more than 48,000 views and 128 comments.

According to multiple fans in the video’s comments, Burton had previously expressed excitement over the idea of watching the seasons she didn’t film. “Over the course of the 6 seasons she would say things like ‘I can’t wait til we get those seasons,’” one fan claims. “I had heard there was beef between her and [Bethany Joy Lenz] irl so my guess is it’s because of that.”

Another wrote, “The Joy Lenz beef runs DEEP!”

Fans also expressed disappointment in the comments of Drama Queens’ Instagram announcement. “I am very happy for Robert’s presence, very much so. I just hope it’s not a ploy to cover the fracture that has been created and which is evident to everyone,” one user commented. “However, I believe that at some point it would be nice to have an answer from you regarding the detachment that we have all perceived. We loved the podcast, we loved this sisterhood of yours, we loved this collective therapy that the podcast allowed you to do and now it’s clear that something is wrong.”

However, fans should remember that Burton, Bush, and Lenz have been spending years rehashing and reliving behind-the-scenes trauma from their time on the hit CW series.

Back in 2017 the trio signed an open letter accusing series creator Mark Schwahn of sexual harassment and manipulation. Throughout their recaps, Burton, Bush, and Lenz have often used the podcast to process and discuss the inappropriate behavior and misogyny they experienced behind the scenes of the show—including the ways they were pitted against each other by people in positions of power.

In the latest Drama Queens podcast episode, Burton says she “didn’t know how to feel” after recording their recap of her final One Tree Hill episode. “It felt like I could finally take a deep breath because every single week it was, ‘Oh my God, I got to tell that story.’ ‘Oh my God, we have to relive that,’” she said. “And there’s obviously, like, so much good stuff that was in [the podcast], but I would have to kind of psych myself up every week.”

She continued, “This was the first week in years, at this point, that I’ve been like, ‘I don’t have to divulge shit today. I was like, ‘I’m just gonna eat a smoothie bowl. I feel good today.’”