Rachel Bilson and Melinda Clarke Call Out Mischa Barton for Claims About Her Time on ‘The OC’
Rachel Bilson and Melinda Clarke opened up about the accusations made by Mischa Barton about her time on the set of The OC. The OC cast members Rachel Bilson and Melinda Clarke, who played Summer and Julie Cooper respectively, now have a podcast together, Welcome to The OC, B***s! In last week’s episode, “The Girlfriend with Deb Fisher + The Mischa Barton Rumors,” the actresses had a conversation with Deb Fisher, one of the writers for the show.
After, they showed part of a future episode with appearance made by Everything Iconic‘s Danny Pellegrino. The clip previewed shows Pellegrino asking about the allegations Mischa Barton, who played Marissa in the show, made about her time filming The OC.
I don’t really listen to podcasts but Rachel Bilson and Melinda Clarke are doing podcasts together about The OC. I’m very excited because I loved that show growing up. It was my first real drama series as a teen. I never missed a episode. #TheOC ♡
— Whitney (@wahwhitney) June 7, 2021
Recently, Barton gave E! News an interview about her time on the set of The OC. Although she was the lead of the show for three seasons, she decided to leave. In the interview, the actress explains why. It involves bullying behind the scenes, workload and long hours, the lack of privacy, and being offered other shows that she had to turn down. However, Mischa assures it was a mix of emotions to leave the show.
Bilson shared the moment they read the interview. “You know Melinda and I were talking immediately after it came out, and we were just like ‘wait, what?”
“We knew there was a lot of pressure on her. But if it was really that bad of an experience, that’s not right for any young person,” Clarke defended the former co-star. Then she added, “But, some of the comments were very, um, perplexing to me, so I don’t know what the truth is about that. I do know that, yes, this was an enormous amount of pressure for her. And for everybody.”
The actresses said they don’t relate to Barton’s experience. Hence, they affirmed that they experienced nothing that compares to what she went through. But both said they can not talk about other people’s experiences.
Rachel also said that some of the comments Barston made were untruthful. “In one of her first comments, she says that I was added last minute after the first season, which is actually completely false. I was like, ‘Well, that’s misinformation.’ Where are we going with this, and what is she trying to say?”
Clarke and Bilson even invite Barton to their podcast so that she can explain her situation. New episodes of Welcome to The OC Bitches release every Tuesday.
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