The O.C. remains one of the most beloved series of the early 2000s, bringing fame to faces we love to this day like Adam Brody and Rachel Bilson. While the teens on our screen were telling stories that pulled us in episode after episode, off-screen, as is the case for many young actors, the ins and outs of everyday life were a struggle. For Mischa Barton, who brought to life the part of Marissa Cooper, her experience both during and after The O.C. was tumultuous to say the least—and one of her co-stars recently expressed how grateful they were that she made it out on the other side.
“I’ve always felt very protective of her,” said Peter Gallagher, who played the part of Sandy Cohen in the teen drama, of Barton. “First fame is toxic,” he told The Independent. “First fame can kill you. She was 16 years old when she started working with us, so just the fact that she’s still alive, I’m just so grateful.”
What happened to Mischa Barton?
After her character was killed off in season 3, the pressures of fame that had been building upon the young actress for years seemingly came to a head—and publicly, to make matters worse. In 2007, the actress was arrested for a DUI and in 2009, she was hospitalized at a psychiatric facility.
“You can go to therapy every day for the rest of your life,” Barton told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023. “But there’s just a certain amount of trauma [from] all that I went through, particularly in my early 20s, that just doesn’t go away overnight.”
What Mischa Barton has said about her past and recovery
Though it’s taken Barton many years of healing, the now 38-year-old actress has bounced back from those days of turbulence.
“When I took the role of Marissa Cooper, I was 18 years old and fresh out of high school,” she wrote in Harper’s Bazaar. “While everyone at my age was enjoying the carefreeness and untroubled joy of being a teenager, I was working extended hours on set, constantly pressured into meeting needs, demands and goals set by people twice my age or older. I never had the option to speak up for myself. As a teenager in an adult world, I felt a perpetual fear that it might backfire, turning my career on its head. This seemed true even far more so then than it is now.”
In addition to the pressures of being young and in Hollywood, behind the scenes of the show she was known for, she was dealing with something else.
“I had a couple of bad experiences behind the camera, and unfortunately that sort of set the tone for the rest of my experience on the show,” she told The Guardian. “And it was just a bit much for me. They weren’t appreciative of how hard I was working or what I was going through off-camera either, so it didn’t feel like I was supported.”
Today, we’re happy to see Mischa Barton prevailed over the tougher days of her youth, and are looking forward to what’s next for her.
