IT girl of the 2000s, Mischa Barton has spilled a shit tonne of tea on the Call Her Daddy podcast, including information about The O.C. and an off-screen romance with a co-star.
In the most recent episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, hosted by Alexandra Cooper, Barton unpacked a lot of experiences, obstacles and secrets she has encountered and kept in her career as an actor.
For folks who are not familiar with Barton’s repertoire, Barton rose to fame in the 2000s due to her role as Marissa Cooper in The O.C. Marissa Cooper’s impact was so huge that her death (Sorry, not sorry for the spoiler) is considered a huge moment in pop culture history.
Since then, she’s appeared in several projects such as St Trinians (2007), Spree (2020) and most recently, the Aussie classic, Neighbours. With all those classics under her belt, she’s still mostly remembered as the beloved/hated Marissa Cooper.
During her interview with Cooper — which was titled Mischa Barton: Like Before & After The OC — the actor revealed a huge piece of information from behind the scenes of the show.
In her podcast, Cooper — who was 17 at the time of filming the series — revealed that she was romantically involved with Ben McKenzie who was 25 and played her romantic interest, Ryan Atwood.
Mischa Barton opens up about being the youngest cast member on The O.C.
Before revealing the details of her off-screen romance, Barton talked about what it was like being the youngest in the cast of The O.C.
“I was 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 began.
“That kinda separated me a little bit from [the cast].”
She added that she didn’t really relate to her co-stars or McKenzie due to their ages, saying, she “wasn’t ready” for the show and she was a “late bloomer”.
Mischa Barton opens up about her off-screen relationship with Ben McKenzie
The actor went on to reveal her former flame with McKenzie after the Call Her Daddy host asked Barton about how it felt to be in a large age gap and playing lover interests on-screen.
“It wasn’t just on-screen either,” Barton revealed.
“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.”
Adding to the previous conversation of The O.C. being many “firsts” for the actor, Barton revealed that McKenzie was her first boyfriend.
“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.”
She also revealed that producers intervened and told her parents that she’d “disappear” with McKenzie during their time on The O.C.
“There was a lot going on there. So much happened in three seasons,” Barton continued.
When Did Mischa Barton and Ben McKenzie’s relationship end?
Although Barton did not reveal how long their relationship was, but she did claim that she was the one to break things off.
“[It was one of those things] where you’re so young and you’re like ‘I’m not ready for this,’” Barton said.
“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.”
Mischa Barton on the bullying on The O.C. set
When asked about bullying on the set of The O.C., Barton mentioned that there were instances of “back talk”.
“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.”
Mischa Barton on her character’s death on The O.C.
When reflecting on her character’s death — AKA the time the pop culture world stopped — Barton said it “was complicated” and that Marissa Cooper’s death was an “obvious choice” due to factors like “friction” between her team and the show, and how she was a “fish out of water” amongst the cast.
“[Marissa] had to go somewhere, and I felt that was the right thing for her,” Barton revealed.
When asked about the world’s reaction to Marissa’s death, Barton revealed that she physically had people crying to her.
“It was crazy. I had people crying in airports to me,” the actor replied.
“People could come up to me on the street and be like ‘Can I hug you?’ People wanted to physically touch me.
“They were like really concerned about what had happened to the character.”
As the interview is still fresh, there have yet to be any replies or comments from folks involved with The O.C.
McKenzie has yet to respond to Barton’s claims.
Image source: Getty Images / Amanda Edwards
