Carl Lentz admits to ‘a couple of’ affair

The affair that brought down Carl Lentz was “not an isolated incident”, the previous Hillsong NYC pastor has admitted.

The 45 12 months old discussed his infidelity in a recent interview with ABC News’ “Nightline”. When pressed about what number of affairs he had, Lentz declined to enter specifics, saying his wife Laura and their children had been through enough already. He said it was “a couple of” and “greater than what I got caught for”. 

“But it definitely was not an isolated incident,” he said. 

During the interview, Lentz admitted to being a recovering sex and prescription addict and said that in private his life was already beginning to unravel 10 years ago, at the peak of his fame and influence when he was hanging with the likes of Justin Bieber, who he famously baptized in a bath.

“[Do] I say [I’m a] recovering drug addict, recovering sex addict? Sure,” he said.

He added later, “I used to be prescribed a drug that I used to assist with ADHD most of my adult life. Towards the top of my time in New York I began to abuse it really badly.”

Lentz said he can be “endlessly sad” in regards to the pain and tears he caused his wife when he first told her he had been unfaithful. 

“Nobody deserves that,” he said, welling up. 

Asked if he wanted to vary, Lentz answered, “I’m changing.”

Lentz was pastor of Hillsong NYC from 2010 until his firing for moral failures and leadership issues in November 2020. 

He said within the interview that “if my actions, if my leadership hurt [Hillsong NYC staff] in any way, I’d like to apologize for it,” he said.

He also denied allegations of inappropriate touching by their former nanny, Leona Kimes. 

“With all that’s inside me, I say that account is improper. It’s not true,” he told Pitts.

Last 12 months Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, led by Pastor Michael Todd, revealed he had joined the staff to assist with “strategy”. 

Now Lentz and wife Laura have launched a podcast called “Lights On” by which they talk in regards to the scandal and the work they’ve put in to heal their family.