Gavin DeGraw truly doesn’t want to be anything other than what he’s been tryin’ to be lately.
Even though his song was famously used as the opening theme, the artist behind “I Don’t Want to Be” still hasn’t watched One Tree Hill.
During an interview with TopMob News at the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony in New York on June 11th, Gavin DeGraw admitted something surprising: despite being a fan of those involved, he’s never actually watched the show. He playfully wondered if that made him a bad person.
DeGraw wasn’t uninterested in the teen drama featuring Chad Michael Murray, James Lafferty, Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton Morgan, and Bethany Joy Lenz – he simply doesn’t watch television, as he explained.
DeGraw said he’s heard the show is fantastic and expressed gratitude for his experiences with it and its incredible fanbase. He then jokingly admitted, “I actually don’t even watch television – pretty strange, right?”
It was pure luck that Gavin DeGraw’s music became so popular with the students on One Tree Hill, and he even showed up to play a few times himself.
I was living in New York City, performing at bars and clubs, and really just focused on the local art scene. Then I recorded an album, and someone called wanting to use one of my songs on a TV show. I actually told him I didn’t watch TV, and honestly, I still don’t.
Like Taylor Swift, a Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee who famously re-recorded her albums to regain control of her music, DeGraw has revisited his past work. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of his first album, Chariot, the 49-year-old recently re-recorded it.
And he highlighted how her project inspired him and other artists.
Gavin DeGraw explained that Taylor Swift’s decision to re-record her albums is a smart move that other artists are watching closely. He believes she’s demonstrating a powerful idea: artists should own their work, including the original recordings – the ‘masters.’ He sees this level of ownership as the direction the music industry is heading.
If you were surprised to learn James DeGraw almost wasn’t in One Tree Hill, you’re in for even more behind-the-scenes stories about the show…
The show started as a movie called Ravens written by Mark Schwahn, but it took Warner Bros. TV four years to persuade him to develop it into a television series.
The original title was considered too focused on sports, so the creators named it after U2’s song “One Tree Hill” from their album Joshua Tree. In fact, each episode of the show was titled after a different song by artists like Dashboard Confessional and R.E.M.
Chad Michael Murray originally auditioned for the role of Ryan on The O.C., but he chose to play Lucas instead – the quiet, thoughtful writer and basketball player. While producers first thought of him as Nathan, due to his previous roles as a rebellious character in shows like Gilmore Girls and Dawson’s Creek, Murray felt a connection with Lucas because of his own childhood experiences with his mother leaving, and he successfully campaigned for the part.
Bethany Joy Lenz initially tried out for both the roles of Haley and Brooke, but she preferred Haley. She admitted she approached reading for Brooke in the same way as Haley. Lenz was the last main cast member to be chosen, and she changed her appearance – dyeing her blonde hair dark and straightening her curly hair – to make sure viewers wouldn’t confuse her with Hilarie Burton, who played Peyton.
James Lafferty, who was 17 at the time, was much more comfortable on the basketball court than in front of a camera. He knew getting the role of Nathan would be a challenge. In a behind-the-scenes interview, Lafferty admitted he wasn’t the first choice and had to audition six times to win the part.
He was right to say that James wasn’t the obvious choice for the role. As executive producer Joe Davola pointed out, James was a long shot when the casting process began.
Okay, so Sophia Bush wasn’t in the very first episode, which was a tragedy, honestly. But then she showed up as Brooke in the second one, and from then on, she was just always there! It was amazing! And it’s not just acting either – she even directed three episodes! Seriously, is there anything she can’t do? I was completely obsessed!
Sophia Bush and Chad Michael Murray became engaged in 2004 after meeting on the set of One Tree Hill, and married shortly after. However, five months later, Bush filed for an annulment, alleging fraud – a request that was denied, leading to their divorce.
Bush has spoken about how difficult it was to continue working with Murray following their split. On Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, she described the show’s producers as “deeply inappropriate,” explaining they exploited personal details of her and Murray’s breakup for publicity, even running TV ads about it. She said this practice extended to other actors on the show, with their private lives often being incorporated into storylines without consent.
Despite the difficult experience, Bush doesn’t want to speak negatively about Murray now. In an interview with Michael Rosenbaum, she explained that her attempts to joke about her younger self are often misinterpreted as criticism of him. She prefers to focus on personal growth and avoids revisiting past relationships involving others, stating she holds no ill will.
Ultimately, Bush characterizes herself at the time as a “very naive 21-year-old kid” and views the situation through that lens.
Murray expressed similar feelings, recalling his naiveté when he first started out. He told The Cut in May 2024, “I was completely inexperienced. I didn’t know anything!” He continued, jokingly, “Then you’re suddenly on your own and think, ‘Okay, now what? Is getting married the next step? That sounds fun!’”
After dating someone named Lafferty in 2008, Sophia Bush began a relationship with Austin Nichols, who played her on-screen husband Julian in One Tree Hill. They broke up in 2012, which was also the year the show finished airing.
One romance blossomed behind the scenes: Lisa Goldstein, who portrayed Millie in later seasons, married Brendan Kirsch – the show’s basketball coordinator – in 2011.
On her podcast, Drama Queens, which she hosts with Hilarie Burton and Sophia Bush, Burton shared that her husband, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, nearly appeared on One Tree Hill with her.
She explained that when she met Jeff, he mentioned he’d tried out for the role of Keith, Lucas’s father figure. That part ultimately went to Craig Sheffer, and she remembered being surprised when he told her, thinking, ‘Wait, what?’
Burton and Morgan actually met through Danneel Ackles, a co-star of Morgan’s. Her husband, Jensen Ackles, had become friends with Morgan after they worked together on Supernatural, where Morgan played his father.
In November 2017, an open letter signed by 18 members of the cast and crew accused director James Schwahn of sexual harassment, revealing a troubling environment on the set.
In her 2020 memoir, The Rural Diaries: Love, Livestock, and Big Life Lessons Down on Mischief Farm, Burton described a painful experience with a man she referred to as a ‘villain.’ She wrote that he created conflict between actresses, pressured them into uncomfortable and unwanted sexual scenes, and engaged in inappropriate physical contact, including unwanted kisses and sexual advances towards her.
In June 2021, Sophia Bush discussed her time on the show One Tree Hill in an interview on the Chicks in the Office podcast. She stated that she and some of her co-stars were subjected to control and manipulation by adults on set, though she didn’t name those involved.
Bush claims that adults they trusted were actually controlling and manipulative, and didn’t want them to form close bonds because they feared the children would unite and ask for more financial support. Bush added that they didn’t realize this was happening at the time. Schwahn has not commented publicly on these claims.
Murray and Burton left the show after six seasons in 2009. However, Burton explained in her memoir that she had actually been planning to leave for quite some time.
Following the death of her close friend, Scott Kirkpatrick, while he was serving in Iraq in the summer of 2007, she felt her life changed direction. She wrote that his death helped her clearly define what was truly important to her.
She described feeling lost for years, yearning for something more fulfilling. She dreamed of a family and a home – a safe haven where she could freely explore her creativity, embrace challenges, and learn from mistakes. She wanted to live a purposeful life, approaching everything – from waking up to working, eating, and resting – with intention. Driven by this desire, she decided to make a change: she left her job, started writing a novel, and bought a one-way ticket to Paris.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Schwahn initially explained the cast members’ exits to fans in Paris as a disagreement over their contracts. He expressed hope they would return, saying, “I know they’ve been offered great opportunities, and hopefully they’ll decide to come back.” He also acknowledged that even if they didn’t, the show had overcome challenges before and could likely continue.
So, here’s the inside scoop from my perspective as someone who’s seen a lot in this industry. A while back, I learned they weren’t renewing my contract – it all came down to budget cuts, honestly. My advice to everyone in a similar situation? Find your voice – start a blog, speak your mind! While I didn’t end up being a regular again, I did manage to make one last appearance on the show’s final season, which was nice.
In a surprising decision, the TV show One Tree Hill skipped over the characters’ college years in season six, jumping ahead in time to show them as adults.
In a 2015 interview with TopMob News, Lafferty explained that attempts to continue shows by simply showing the characters move from high school to the next phase of their lives often feel forced and don’t quite succeed.
As a huge One Tree Hill fan, I was really shocked to hear Jana Kramer talk about her time on the show on her podcast, Whine Down. She mentioned that during her three seasons, one cast member made things incredibly difficult for everyone, and specifically, she wasn’t allowed to be friends with Stephen Lafferty. It’s so sad to hear that happened behind the scenes of a show I love!
She explained that while she was on the show, there were unwritten rules about who could be friends with whom. It wasn’t necessarily drama, but more of a situation where associating with one person meant you couldn’t talk to another. Because of this, she wasn’t particularly close to James while they were working together.
In 2010, actor Antwon Tanner, known for his role as Antwon “Skills” Taylor, received a three-month prison sentence. He had been involved in a scheme to sell stolen Social Security numbers across state lines. In 2009, he pleaded guilty after an undercover operation caught him attempting to sell sixteen fake Social Security numbers and three counterfeit cards.
In her 2024 memoir, Dinner For Vampires, Bethany Joy Lenz discussed her experiences on the set of One Tree Hill while also being involved in a cult. She explained that she initially struggled to connect with her character, Sophia, because of their differing approaches to self-worth. Lenz wrote that Sophia constantly felt the need to prove herself due to being underestimated, which made her ideal for the role of Brooke Davis. However, this clashed with Lenz’s own strong beliefs and insecurities about proving value. She realized later that she was doing the same thing as Sophia, but using religion as the standard for her own self-worth.
However, she regrets this judgment.
Lenz explained that a developing friendship with Sophia suffered as a result of the situation. He regretted not being able to go back and simply offer her a comforting hug.
Eventually, they did become friends, and Bush has often talked about the strong connection she shares with both Lenz and Burton.
She described their friendship to People magazine as a deep, almost family-like bond, forged through shared experiences – both good and bad. They’ve always been there for each other, offering support and understanding, and have a fiercely protective love built on years of laughter, tears, and navigating life’s challenges together. She considers it a true example of sisterhood.
In 2024, rumors began circulating about a possible rift between Bethany Joy Lenz and Hilarie Burton. Fans noticed they had unfollowed each other on Instagram, and Burton shared a quote about not appreciating imitation, which some interpreted as a reference to their respective memoirs. Later that year, Burton announced that Robert Buckley would be taking her place as co-host of their podcast, Drama Queens, alongside Lenz and Sophia Bush.
In October, Lenz publicly addressed the speculation. She stated on the Call Her Daddy podcast that she loves Hilarie and has no issues with her, hoping any misunderstandings could be resolved, and reiterated her affection for Burton.
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2026-06-12 18:49