Hilarie Burton Says Final Day of Filming One Tree Hill Was 'Deeply Uncomfortable'

On the latest episode of her OTR rewatch podcast, Drama Queens, Burton said that her last scene as Peyton Sawyer was "deeply uncomfortable."

Burton's last moments on the CW series came in the hospital after her character had given birth. Because of the dynamic on set, Burton had decided she was leaving the show, alongside Chad Michael Murray, who played her love interest, Lucas Scott.

But the show's powers that be were in denial about their exit, Burton said, with most of the cast and crew wrapping on filming for the season without saying bye to Burton and Murray.

Murray managed to wrangle his co-stars back onto the set to say goodbye, but the end result wasn't quite as uplifting as he intended.

"Between the prosthetic that was on my belly, everything I was hooked up to and the positioning of the camera, it was better for me to just stay on the bed than it was to get up," Burton recalled. "Everyone was saying goodbye to me, but it felt like a funeral. I'm literally laying there like I'm in a coffin. James Lafferty comes up to the side of the bed and is like, 'Hey, uh, have a good summer.' It was so awkward and awful. People would put their head on my hair and say, 'Well, I'll see you next season,' and I kept being like, 'No you won’t! What are you guys talking about?' It was an out-of-body experience, [like] being at my own character's funeral, knowing I wasn't going to see a lot of you [for years]."

Burton got emotional as she remembered the way co-star, Sophia Bush, was there for her during those tough, final moments, pulling out a ring Bush had given her as a gift on her final day. The card attached to the gift read "A 1920s piece, perfect for Paris," as Burton had planned on jetting off to Paris to celebrate her departure from the series, after what had been a difficult working experience.

"You were the only person who believed that I was leaving," Burton told her podcast co-host through tears. "Having Moira [Kelly] say it was really important, and having you believe it was really important. It was a bad time and you did something really nice in that moment. I've moved houses 8 million times and that has always stayed in the drawer next to my bed … and it will stay there."

While it was hard to say goodbye, re-watching the show now 15 years later has served as a catharsis for Burton, Bush and fellow co-host and former co-star, Bethany Joy Lenz, as they've reflected on fond memories while at the same time revealing countless stories of alleged manipulation and abuse behind the scenes of the beloved WB-turned-CW drama, particularly where showrunner, Mark Schwahn was concerned.

In 2018, Schwahn was largely ousted from Hollywood after widespread sexual harassment accusations by the show's female cast and crew members during its production came to light, some of which have been discussed on the Drama Queens pod.

"The closure feels cool," Burton added of the scene serving as the end to Lucas and Peyton's love story. "I think I can walk away with the narrative of Lucas and Peyton and feel so good about it in a way that I wasn't allowed to for a long time."

Despite her character no longer being on the show, Burton is expected to continue co-hosting the Drama Queens alongside Bush and Lenz, both of whom remained with One Tree Hill through its final three seasons.