Mischa Barton, star of the 2000s teen drama, The O.C., has opened up about her experiences on the hit show on an episode of Alexandra Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast.
While Barton is best known for her role as Marissa Cooper, she’s also starred in films like St Trinians, and most recently, Australian soap, Neighbours.
During the episode, which was titled Mischa Barton: Like Before & After The OC, Barton shared that she had a romantic relationship with her on screen love-interest, Ben McKenzie.
“It wasn’t just on-screen either,” Barton shared.
“I mean it was kind of complicated for me because like I said, I went into that like a virgin, like a kid.
“I had no idea what I was doing. I felt like I needed to catch up — I think — a lot of the time.”
When the filming began, Barton was only 17 to McKenzie’s 25.
“That was my first. I had no idea what I was doing,” she said.
“And I think that set things off on the wrong foot too because it was like, people hook up on these shows and whatever and these things happen, but we threw ourselves into it all very fast.
“It definitely was tricky that [the relationship] happened right out of the gate. I felt overwhelmed and not ready for that.”
However, Barton said she was the one to eventually end things.
[It was one of those things] where you’re so young and you’re like ‘I’m not ready for this,’” Barton revealed.
“I think he was really angry with me, to begin with, and I kinda felt that kinda punishment of that. I felt that from the producers as well, that they were not happy with that as well.”
Barton also spoke about the experience of being the youngest cast member, and not relating to the other older members of the cast.
“Iwas experiencing all of my firsts and like I was so young and my mum would be on set. I just needed a lot more attention in that sense,” she said.
“That kinda separated me a little bit from [the cast].”
According to Barton, the character’s controversial death was an “obvious choice” because of the “friction” between the cast members and Barton feeling like “a fish out of water.”
“[Marissa] had to go somewhere, and I felt that was the right thing for her,” Barton said.
She also elaborated on the complex relationships between the cast members.
“It’s typical that in these sets not everybody is gonna get along,” Barton vented.
“There are gonna be clashes. There’s gonna be people who create rumours and make stuff up. I think I was very sensitive to that because I was so young.
“It felt like high school but in the real world and very elevated and very magnified.”
O.C fans have already shared their shock at Barton’s revelations however McKenzie is yet to comment.
