The affair that brought down Carl Lentz was "not an isolated incident", the former Hillsong NYC pastor has admitted.
The 45 year old discussed his infidelity in a recent interview with ABC News' "Nightline". When pressed about how many affairs he had, Lentz declined to go into specifics, saying his wife Laura and their children had been through enough already. He said it was "more than one" and "more 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 starting to unravel 10 years ago, at the height of his fame and influence when he was hanging with the likes of Justin Bieber, who he famously baptized in a bathtub.
"[Do] I say [I'm a] recovering drug addict, recovering sex addict? Sure," he said.
He added later, "I was prescribed a drug that I used to help with ADHD most of my adult life. Towards the end of my time in New York I started to abuse it really badly."
Lentz said he would be "forever sad" about 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 change, 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 in the interview that "if my actions, if my leadership hurt [Hillsong NYC staff] in any way, I'd love to apologize for it," he said.
He also denied allegations of inappropriate touching by their former nanny, Leona Kimes.
"With all that is within me, I say that account is wrong. It's not true," he told Pitts.
Last year Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, led by Pastor Michael Todd, revealed he had joined the staff to help with "strategy".
Now Lentz and wife Laura have launched a podcast called "Lights On" in which they talk about the scandal and the work they have put in to heal their family.
