Daniel Curtis Lee reveals he stopped talking with Ned’s Declassified costar Devon Werkheiser after latter asked him to join "cult-adjacent" workshop

Ned’s Declassified stars Daniel Curtis Lee and Devon Werkheiser had a falling out that lasted a couple of years after the latter pitched Lee to attend a “cult-adjacent” workshop amid a “dark time” in his life.

In the latest episode of their rewatch podcast, Ned’s Declassified Podcast Survival Guide, Lee and Werkheiser opened up about not talking for two years after the latter started attending the aforementioned workshop.

During their May 29 episode, Werkheiser recalled his falling out with Lee, saying:

“Remember that time I tried to get you to go to this workshop that is cult-adjacent and then you were, like, mad at me for a couple of years?”

Werkheiser added:

“That was the only time Daniel and I went through a time where we didn’t talk for a little while after that, cause we always stayed in touch.”

Lee countered his co-star’s words, saying that it was “not cult-adjacent,” but “a cult,” and that he distanced himself from Werkheiser after he tried to recruit him into the unnamed cult group.

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“I did not need that at the time” — Daniel Curtis Lee shares the aftermath of Ned’s Declassified costar trying to recruit him to a cult

On the Ned’s Declassified Podcast, Daniel Curtis Lee also shared where his headspace was when his costar called to check on him and ask if he was “sure” about not joining the proposed workshop. He said:

“I was already going through my own stuff, right, but I did not need that at the time, bro. That was the last interaction that I wanted to have with anybody. I already had a thing about people trying to sell fulfillment through religion.”

Lee further noted that the interaction happened when the duo were not spending too much time together as they did once, so when he received that call, it made him feel like Werkheiser was only calling to recruit him to the group.

Recalling the aftermath of the call, Daniel Curtis Lee shared:

“I walked out of that restaurant. I stormed up out there, bro. [I was like], ‘These Hollywood motherf**kers. They’re all the same….He’ll literally sell me out to make maybe $100.’”

Werkheiser clarified there was no money involved and that he didn’t get any “commission” for recruiting new members. However, he did admit to the “pressure while you’re in that program to sign up people in your life.”

Moreover, Devon Werkheiser defended his intentions of pitching the workshop to Daniel Curtis Lee, which was to give his friend a “safe space’ as he knew he was “in a dark time” during that period.

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The duo have since mended their friendship, which has lasted two decades since their Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide sitcom in 2004. They launched their podcast early in 2023 with their fellow Ned’s Declassified alum Lindsey Shaw.