Mischa Barton and Rachel Bilson. Ian West/PA Photos/INSTAR; Scott Kirkland/Shutterstock
California, right here we come. Former The O.C. costars Rachel Bilson, Melinda Clarke and Mischa Barton had an emotional reunion for the present’s twentieth anniversary — and revisited one of the vital heartbreaking scenes within the teen cleaning soap’s historical past.
The Hills alum, 36, made an look on the Tuesday, January 10, episode of the “Welcome to the O.C., Bitches” podcast to look again at recollections from her time on the present. The teenager drama juggernaut, which ran from 2003 to 2007, starred Barton as Marissa Cooper and Bilson, 41, as her finest pal Summer time Roberts. Adam Brody and Ben Mckenzie, for his or her components, portrayed love pursuits Seth Cohen and Ryan Atwood, respectively. (Clarke, 53, portrayed Marissa’s mom, Julie Cooper.)
Whereas the Fox hit ran for 4 seasons, followers mentioned goodbye to Barton’s character within the season 3 finale, which aired in Could 2006. Within the now iconic scene, Ryan carries Marissa away from an exploding automobile earlier than she dies in his arms.
“It wanted to be a factor, after every part she’s been via, but when it’s right here I’ll watch it with you,” Barton instructed Bilson and Clarke throughout Tuesday’s podcast episode, agreeing to revisit the second she exited the collection. The Hart of Dixie alum replied, “I couldn’t do it, Mischa, I couldn’t do it. However I’m going to do it if you happen to’re going to do it.”
Because the trio relived the horrific scene for the primary time collectively, Barton opened up concerning the empathy she had for her character’s journey. “Poor Marissa. She actually, actually goes via it,” she gushed. When Bilson started crying, Barton added, “Oh no, I’m getting actually unhappy too. You may’t cry, Rachel!”
Whereas the ladies tried to press pause on the episode whereas wiping away tears, they caught a glimpse of the throwback montage that replayed Ryan and Marissa’s love story.
“What is that this subsequent bit?” Barton requested. “It flashes again to whenever you guys meet one another,” Bilson defined as she wiped away tears. “I can’t, you guys.”
Rachel Bilson, Mischa Barton and Melinda Clarke. Courtesy of Welcome to the OC, Bitches!/YouTube
Bilson and Clarke began their podcast in March 2021 and have hosted varied O.C. favorites, together with Brody, 43 — who’s Bilson’s real-life ex — and Peter Gallagher and Kelly Rowan, who performed Sandy and Kirsten Cohen, respectively.
Tuesday, nonetheless, marked Barton’s first look on the podcast after beforehand sharing that she initially left The O.C. after folks had been “very imply” to her.
“It wasn’t, like, probably the most perfect atmosphere for a younger, delicate woman who’s additionally been thrust into stardom to must put up with,” she instructed E! Information in Could 2021. “However, you realize, I additionally beloved the present and needed to construct up my very own partitions and methods of getting round coping with that and the celebrity that was thrust particularly at me.”
She continued, “Simply coping with like the quantity of invasion I used to be having in my private life, I simply felt very unprotected, I assume is one of the simplest ways to place it.”
The Sixth Sense actress famous that her grueling work schedule and the dissonance she felt together with her character made the present tough for her.
“I used to be working so laborious, the longest hours in all probability out of all of the characters. It wasn’t a simple character for me to play as a result of it wasn’t me, which is why I believe folks favored it or thought Marissa was humorous and latched on to her. They felt like that is entertaining as a result of she’s all over and who is that this woman? It’s like as a result of I’m this New York woman who was making an attempt to play this ditzy L.A. wealthy child, you realize?”
Rachel Bilson as Summer time and Mischa Barton as Marissa on ‘The O.C.’ Newscom/MEGA
The next month, Bilson and Clarke addressed Barton’s phrases on the podcast.
“You realize, Melinda and I had been speaking instantly after [the interview] got here out. And we had been similar to, ‘Wait, what?’” the Jumper star admitted, earlier than shutting down Barton’s claims that Bilson was added as a collection common “final minute.”
“[That] is definitely fully false and never what occurred,” she revealed. “So it beginning out that method, I used to be like, ‘Properly, that’s misinformation. The place are we going with this? And what’s she making an attempt to say?’ Which I might really like to speak to her and discover out what her expertise was from her perspective as a result of I noticed issues a bit of in another way.”
Clarke, nonetheless, mentioned that she couldn’t converse for anybody else’s experiences and will perceive why Barton made the controversial remarks.
“Somebody who’s 16, 17, 18 — that quantity of hours of labor, strain, at such a younger age — at finest, you’re exhausted,” she defined. “And at worst, it’s overwhelming and chaotic so, it kinda breaks my coronary heart a bit of to know [that]. We knew there was a variety of strain on her, but when it was actually that dangerous of an expertise, that’s not proper for any younger particular person. However, a number of the feedback had been very perplexing to me. So, I don’t know what the reality is about that. I do know that, sure, this was an unlimited quantity of strain for her. And for everyone.”
