THE OC fans have empathized with actress Mischa Barton after she disclosed a disturbing detail about her past.
Mischa divulged on the Call Her Daddy podcast that she dated her co-star Ben McKenzie despite their sizeable age gap.
Now 38, Mischa reminisced about her days on The OC after Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper brought up the TV star’s on-screen romance in the series.
On The OC, which aired from 2003 to 2007, Mischa’s character, Marissa Cooper, dated Ben’s, who is now 45, character, Ryan Atwood.
Alex admitted that she didn’t realize that at the time of his and Mischa’s “on-screen relationship,” he was 25, and she was 17.
“It wasn’t just on-screen either. It was kind of complicated for me,” Mischa divulged.
She added that she “went into the show like a virgin and like a kid,” explaining that she felt that she “needed to grow up quickly” when she was on The OC.
Mischa also confessed that Ben was “her first” and that their behind-the-scenes romance did cause some commotion on set.
“That was my first, I had no idea what I was doing. I think that kind of 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 all into it very fast […] I remember they were like, ‘Mischa’s disappeared with Ben and like, she’s only 17-and-a-half, 18…’ The producers went to my parents. It was kind of a whole ordeal,” she explained.
On X, fka Twitter, fans wasted no time slamming Ben for dating Mischa when he was an adult and she was a teenager.
“This is disgusting and so so sad. The case for far too many child stars,” one person ranted.
Another agreed: “Mischa barton revealing her and ben mckenzie dated during the oc when she was 17 and he was 25 oh my god???”
A third noted: “I don’t think that was right.”
TROUBLE ON SET
Although most of the co-stars from The O.C. still seemed to get along with each other, Rachel was confused by a comment made by Mischa.
In an interview with E! News in 2022, Mischa revealed the real reason she decided to leave her starring role on The OC as Marissa.
“It had a lot to do with them adding Rachel in last minute as, after the first season, a series regular and evening out everybody’s pay,” she explained.
“And sort of general bullying from some of the men on set that kind of felt really s****y.”
RACHEL RESPONDS
After hearing about Mischa’s comments, Rachel talked about it on her podcast.
She shared that she and Melinda spoke “immediately” after reading the interview and both were shocked: “We were just like, ‘Wait, what?’”
Rachel quickly shut down Mischa’s claims that she was added to the cast at the last second as “completely false.”
She told listeners: ”That’s misinformation. Where is she going with this and what is she trying to say?
“I would actually like to talk to her and find out what her experience was from her perspective because I saw things a little differently.”
Both podcast hosts went on to say that they would love to have Mischa on the show to discuss her recent claims.
Without naming any names, Mischa alleged she was bullied by “some of the men” on the show.
Rachel said she was confused by that because she never experienced anything like that.
Along with the actresses and Ben, The O.C. also starred Adam Brody (Seth Cohen), Peter Gallagher (Sandy Cohen), Tate Donovan (Jimmy Cooper), and Chris Carmack (Luke Ward).
