It has been fifteen years since Marissa Cooper was just killed off in that fiery season 3 finale of The O.C., and Mischa Barton is finally ready to talk about it.
In an exclusive interview with E!News, Barton opened up about the real reason her character was nuked (not literally) from the show. Generally speaking, people thought Barton just wanted to shift into film acting, ‘cos it seemed so full on to kill off a main character like that.
Marissa didn’t go on a holiday, she straight up died.
According to Barton, however, the demise of her character came down to a combination of a lot of things.
“It’s a bit complicated. It started pretty early on because it had a lot to do with them adding Rachel [Bilson, Summer Roberts] in last minute as, after the first season, a series regular and evening out everybody’s pay – sort of general bullying from some of the men on set that kind of felt really shitty,” Barton explained.
She added that she found it really difficult to cope with the amount of attention on her personal life as well, and felt “unprotected”.
“I just felt very unprotected, I guess is the best way to put it,” she said.
Barton genuinely loved the show, but it was taking a toll on her.
“I was working so hard, the longest hours probably out of all the characters,” she explained.
And then things started to really fall apart halfway through season 2.
“We started doubling up on episodes and shooting [became] so much harder, and again a lot of that was too much for me. I didn’t know where the character was going,” Barton continued.
“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.”
Barton said producers initially pitched for Marissa to sail off into the sunset, so that she could potentially return in a later episode.
“I was getting offers from big films at the time and having to turn them down,” she explained.
“I had always been [in a supporting role] in The Sixth Sense and any of those things. My dream was to be offered those lead roles, so that’s what happened.
“It just felt like it was the best thing for me and my health and just in terms of not really feeling protected by my cast and crew at that point.”
It absolutely sucks that Barton felt that way and it’ll be interesting to see if any of the other stars from The O.C. will respond, but I’m really glad she made the right decision for herself.
All four seasons of The O.C. are streaming now on Stan.
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