‘Dripping with misogyny.’ One Tree Hill’s leading ladies got brutally honest about the teen series.

The One Tree Hill gals just got brutally honest about the teen series that launched their careers.

Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton Morgan and Bethany Joy Lenz portrayed the three leading ladies on the basketball drama series, which first premiered in 2003 and went for nine seasons. 

It's been more than 10 years since the series concluded and the three actors reunited for rewatch podcast Drama Queens, where they relive their days playing angsty teens Brooke, Peyton and Haley. 

Image: The CW. 

On the latest episode, the women sat down to take in One Tree Hill’s 100th episode and they couldn't help but cringe at a storyline involving Bush's character Brooke. 

“As soon as it started I was like, ‘Ah f**k, I know what’s coming.’ Because they wanted to get into the storyline of Brooke wanting to have a kid," Sophia reflected.

In the episode, a 22-year-old Brooke admits she wants to have a baby and decides she wants her best friend's on/off boyfriend Lucas (Chad Michael Murray) to be the sperm donor for her child.

"This is bad," Bethany remarked at the storyline. 

Bush said she found her character’s arc to be “super weird” as if having a baby would fill a void. “A baby is not a Band-Aid,” she joked (but also – not a joke).

Bush took the show's writers to task, admitting that there was a lack of women in the writers' room at the time. “By the way, you can see who wrote this episode as a solo writer and the misogyny dripping from it," Sophia said. Bethany agreed.

The episode in question was written by series creator Mark Schwahn, who was accused in 2017 by the three women of sexual harassment, along with physical and emotional manipulation.

The actress went on to joke about what could have prompted her character to suddenly want a baby. "Like, ‘I’m so unfulfilled, I’m successful but I’m empty inside cause as a woman I can’t possibly be happy unless I have a baby,’” Bush quipped. 

In another scene in the episode, Dan said he was having a sexual fantasy about Bethany's character, Haley, despite the fact that she was married to his son, Nathan. "That was so gross," Bethany remarked.

Bush added, “This whole episode is dripping with 'we did not have any female writers in the room to get to edit this or do a polish on its grossness.'"

“It’s all so gross – and we know why – but ew, gross."

Sophia added that Brooke would never have suggested sourcing sperm for her best friend's man. “I was like, Brooke Davis has established boundaries and become good friends with Lucas. She is also Peyton’s No. 1 fan. Like, that’s my ride-or-die. I would never, [and] Brooke would never be like, ‘I know you’re in love with this man... but I’m just gonna ask him for a quick organic material donation so I can make a baby with him.’

“Truly when I tell you, I was infuriated then, I am infuriated now. It was not based in reality,” Sophia continued. 

“I hated every minute of it and this just doesn’t track. It’s so off-the-charts insane. Brooke owns a multimillion-dollar company, you think she can’t go to like whatever the version of North Carolina cryobank is and pay $1200 for a semen sample?”

The women also took issue with a dream sequence earlier in the episode, which saw Brooke wearing a wedding dress.

"Why is she fantasising about a wedding dress?" asked Bethany. 

"Guys, because she's 22 years old," Hilarie deadpanned. 

Bethany suggested Brooke's fantasy should have instead involved her reuniting with her mother — an idea that would have made more sense for what motivated that character. 

"Something about her as a woman and as a daughter," Sophia agreed, "but I was just like, 'Are we really doing this again?'" – referring to the stereotype that the only thing women aspire to be is a wife and mother.

And then there was that awkward conversation between Brooke and another female character, Karen... 

"A man definitely wrote that scene," Hilarie quipped. "She was like 'How do you stay so strong?' Guys in your life, have you ever sat down and asked that question?"

The segment ended with the women wondering why certain female characters didn't interact enough. "Why didn't Haley and Karen ever have a moment?" asked Hilarie. 

"I don't know, that was strange, there were all these things that were missing," said Bethany, who portrayed Haley on the series.

In Hilarie's 2020 memoir The Rural Diaries: Love, Livestock, and Big Life Lessons Down on Mischief Farm, she painted an ugly picture of the working conditions for women on OTH. "In my particular fairy tale there had been a villain who pitted female actors against one another," she wrote.

"[He] pushed us to do gratuitous sex scenes that always left me feeling ill and ashamed, told young female actors to stick their chests out, put his hands on all of us, and pushed himself on me, forcing unwanted kisses."

Feature image: The CW.