Kate Voegele Is Reclaiming One Tree Hill After Speaking Out Against Its “Toxic Culture”

In 2017, 18 brave women from the One Tree Hill cast and crew wrote a letter accusing showrunner Mark Schwahn of sexual harassment via Variety. Among them was musician and actor Kate Voegele, who played Mia Catalano on the show from Seasons 5 to 8. She was just 19 years old when she first stepped onto the One Tree Hill set, and in an interview with Refinery29 Australia, she says speaking up about the "toxic culture" was both cathartic and needed. "It was the whole cast and crew of women who came forward with the letter together, which was really powerful," Voegele says. "There was a pretty difficult, toxic culture at times, and that was very challenging, especially coming into it after the show had already been going for a few years and being new and younger than everyone."

For the singer, it was important to give fans context as to what the challenges were on the One Tree Hill set, and potentially give other victims the confidence to come forward. "We didn't want people who've also been through things like that to feel alone. We wanted them to feel like they could speak out, or they could sort of seek whatever help they feel like they need[ed] in order to process [trauma]," she explains.

As a musician, she also turned to music to amplify her story. In her 2017 single Shoot This Arrow, Voegele's lyrics paint the story of how she could no longer be silenced by those who previously had power over her. "I always want to write a song that helps somebody feel like they're not the only one who's been through something, and I feel like that whole [#MeToo] movement, we were just hoping to sort of help," the singer says. "Even some of the girls on the show reached out to me privately and were like, 'That song really helped me with all this crazy stuff that we went through'. So you know, that's what music is about."

Voegele is currently on tour with One Tree Hill star Tyler Hilton, who played Chris Keller on the show. While they've toured together before, this is the first time they have made their set list all about the teen drama, with The Music Of One Tree Hill tour delighting fans across the globe. "[One Tree Hill] did take on this whole new life after the pandemic, and during the pandemic, and it does really feel like we're reclaiming the narrative and sort of telling the story the way we want to, and talking about the things that were meaningful to us about it," the singer says. "[We] get to tell the story kind of through our lens and all that, which I think is fun for the fans to hear."

Although some actors prefer not to talk about projects they did when they were younger (it's probably best not to ask Jacob Elordi about The Kissing Booth), the One Tree Hill cast have embraced the show that shot them to fame. From the Drama Queens rewatch podcast created by Hilarie Burton, Sophia Bush and Bethany Joy Lenz, to James Lafferty, Chad Michael Murray and more attending fan conventions, it's kind of neat to see the fandom fuelled by the actors we grew up watching. "Some of these conventions are really fun because we get to see everyone and everybody really supports each other, and is really cool about promoting each other's creative projects," Voegele says. "We keep in touch with just about everyone. We go through seasons of seeing some folks more than others, but I just love every single person I ever worked with on the show."

The women of One Tree Hill are particularly close, especially after going through a traumatic experience together, and Voegele mentions there's even a group text chain that's active to this day. "I'm grateful that we've got a giant girls' group text, and I'm really grateful for the sisterhood in the tight-knit community that we have there. That's something that you don't get everywhere, and it's a special group," the singer says.