HAD ENOUGH
Why did Mischa Barton leave The O.C.?
MISCHA Barton appeared on 76 episodes of The O.C., which aired on Fox from 2003 until 2007.
The actress opened up about her exit from the popular teen drama in a tell-all interview.
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Why did Mischa Barton leave The O.C.?
Mischa Barton's The O.C. character Marissa Cooper was dramatically killed off during the final episode of season three.
She opened up about her departure in an interview with in May of 2021.
"I've always felt ashamed in a way to really talk about what went on behind the scenes because I've always been a very private person and very aware of people's feelings," Barton told E! News a phone interview.
"Now that we're living in this era where we do speak out about our experiences and women do come clean about what was really going on behind the scenes and how they were treated, it's a slightly different thing."
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Barton said the way she left the show was "a bit complicated."
"It started pretty early on because it had a lot to do with them adding Rachel [Bilson] in last minute as, after the first season, a series regular and evening out everybody's pay - and sort of general bullying from some of the men on set that kind of felt really s****y," she told E! News.
"But, you know, I also loved the show and had to build up my own walls and ways of getting around dealing with that and the fame that was thrust specifically at me.
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"Just dealing with like the amount of invasion I was having in my personal life, I just felt very unprotected, I guess is the best way to put it."
She added: "I was working so hard, the longest hours probably out of all the characters.
"It wasn't an easy character for me to play because it wasn't me, which is why I think people liked it or thought Marissa was funny and latched on to her.
"They felt like this is entertaining because she's all over the place and who is this girl? It's like because this New York girl was trying to play this ditzy LA rich kid, you know?"
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Barton was asked during the interview when things started to "fall apart."
"So halfway through season two I would say, when we started doubling up on episodes and shooting [became] so much harder, and again a lot of that was too much for me," she said.
"I didn't know where the character was going. I look back on it pretty fondly, but there's stuff I think people did wrong and the way they handled it. So, I just didn't feel I could keep going."
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How did her character Marissa die?
Marissa's death - in a car wreck - became one of the most memorable television exits in recent memory.
"People still come up to me to this day and they're like, "I remember where I was when your character died!" And they're still emotional about it, like it was really me," she told E! News.
"I think that that's cool that people actually took something away from it. There were lessons to be learned from Marissa, for better or for worse."
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