Hilarie Burton says Chad Michael Murray was not responsible for her departure from 'One Tree Hill'.

Hilarie Burton

Hilarie Burton

The 39-year-old actress played Peyton Sawyer on the TV series for six seasons before she and Chad, 39, who starred as Lucas Scott, left the show but she has insisted that he had nothing to do with her leaving.

A fan took to Twitter to blast Chad after mistakenly believing that Hilarie had blamed him for her decision to leave on a recent episode of her podcast 'Drama Queens'.

The fan wrote: "This is f***** up, if I had been watching one tree hill back when the b******* happened, I would’ve been livid. I know Chad is older now and has probably learned from his mistakes but he f***** Hilarie Burton in the process for walking out.

"In addition to this, on the @DramaQueensOTH podcast last night, @HilarieBurton said that her departure was unceremonious and we can blame that on Chad tbh at least the Chad from back then. I’m assuming and hope he’s grown up now but wtf (sic)."

However, Hilarie insisted that Chad was not to blame and she explained that her bosses were responsible as both she and Chad were "treated badly".

She wrote: "I’m not sure where your info is coming from, but Chad had nothing to do with my leaving. We were both treated badly, and he defended me. I so appreciate your support, but I just wanted to clarify that Chad was my teammate. My bosses were the s****."

The fan then wrote: "Oh my gosh, I hope @HilarieBurton knows I’m a fan of hers and Chad!!I had read some misinformation from past blogs, I used to own A Cinderella Story and Freaky Friday own on dvd, of course I love Chad. I grew up with that guy!"

And Hilarie replied: "Babe, no worries. I’ve heard that rumor so many times over the years. I just correct it because I care about our OTH fam and don’t want anyone carrying around false baggage. Thank you for caring!! Xo."

Hilarie previously spoke out about her close relationship with her castmates, saying: "We all love each other. So, working out the business end of things would be the thing. I love those guys. I love ‘em so much. We had trouble with our creator on that show. That is not a mystery, and so I think it’s all about ownership of the show and the politics behind that. Because there were a lot of abuses and so if we’re going to come back, we want it to be from a place of light and the good stuff."