Rachel Bilson says she's 'confused' by The OC costar & ex-BFF Mischa Barton's claims she was 'bullied' on set of drama
THE O.C.’s Rachel Bilson admitted she’s “confused” by co-star Mischa Barton’s recent claims that she was “bullied” on the set of the show.
The 35-year-old actress also claimed Rachel was a last-minute addition as a series regular to the Fox drama, which further baffled the Hart of Dixie star, 39.
In an interview with E! News last month, Mischa revealed the real reason she decided to leave her starring role on The O.C. as Marissa Cooper was because issues she had on set.
Getting deeper into it, Mischa claimed: "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.
“And sort of general bullying from some of the men on set that kind of felt really s****y.”
After reading about her former co-star’s comments, Rachel shared her reactions on a new episode of her Welcome to the O.C., B***hes podcast with fellow alum Melinda Clarke.
The 39-year-old, who played Marissa’s best friend Summer Roberts, 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."
As such, both co-hosts said they’d love to have Mischa on the podcast to really discuss her recent interview and her experience of working on the show.
She had previously shared that she looks back back on the exprience, overall, “pretty fondly” but feels there were some things “people did wrong and the way they handled it.”
Without naming any names, Mischa alleged she was bullied by “some of the men” on the show.
"I mean, I'm definitely pretty confused by most of it," Rachel said. "And I don't know who she's referring to because I didn't personally witness any of that."
Melinda added: ”It's hard for me to speculate because I like to speak from truth. But, we can only imagine that it was pretty, like I said, overwhelming and just how to navigate these waters at that age."
Along with the actresses, The O.C. also starred Adam Brody (Seth Cohen), Ben McKenzie (Ryan Atwood), Peter Gallagher (Sandy Cohen), Tate Donovan (Jimmy Cooper), and Chris Carmack (Luke Ward).
Mischa left the Fox drama, which ran for four seasons from 2003 to 2007, after season 3.
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