'The O.C.' Star Mischa Barton Reveals Ben McKenzie Was Her 'First Relationship' as a Teenager

The O.C. star Mischa Barton made shocking revelations while appearing with host Alex Cooper on the Call Her Daddy podcast. The popular youth series began airing in 2003 and ran for four seasons before coming to an end in 2007. Casting alongside Ben McKenzie as Marissa Cooper, a high school student, Barton disclosed that the couple's relationship went beyond the screen and that they had been seeing each other in private during the show's run.

"Yeah it wasn't just on screen either," Barton said. "I went into that like a virgin, like a kid, like really feeling like I needed to grow up quickly." She further added that she was only 17 and McKenzie was 25 then, "That was my first (relationship)," she said. "I had no idea what I was doing."

"And I think that kind of set things off on the wrong foot, too, because it was like people hook up on these shows and whatever and these things happen," she said. "But we threw ourselves all into it very fast," as per Today, Barton went on to add that their relationship created tensions while filming the Fox series.

"Notoriously, there was a lot of inter-dating on that show and different people getting together. It definitely was tricky that it happened right out of the gate. And I felt overwhelmed and not ready for any of that." “That’s a pretty big age gap,” Cooper responded to Barton. “How did you feel about that romantic on-screen relationship?”Barton said. “I mean, that was kind of complicated for me.” 

As per Huff Post, Barton recalled that the crew and producers were worried that she was seeing an older man. "It was kind of a whole ordeal," she said. "That's in the very beginning of the show before we're even halfway through a season, so a lot was going on there." “I remember they were like, ‘Mischa’s disappeared with Ben … she’s only 17 1/2, 18.’ And the producers went to my parents … and it was kind of like, a whole ordeal.”

On the other hand, the producers also expected on-screen chemistry out of them, “It kind of felt like a double-edged sword,” Barton revealed further. “[The producers] were like, ‘Oh, we want it to seem like you guys are all really friends and that you have chemistry, and we need this to really work.’ And then you sort of get punished for it on the flip side. And they’re like, ‘Oh, but not so much that it affects our production.’ Or like, ‘What’s going on here?’” 

Many people were startled when Barton's character Marissa was ultimately—and notoriously—killed off the show in the Season 3 finale. The decision to kill off such a significant character was made "creatively," according to showrunner Josh Schwartz, and was "a function of needing to do something big to shake up the show." “Mischa showed up every day and did her job, and did a great job and worked really hard so it had nothing to do with her,” Schwartz said.

Barton ended the relationship with McKenzie while still acting together on the show. "We just had to suck it up and get on with it, but there was a lot of like jabs behind the scenes and off camera," Barton said. "I felt like that kind of ostracized me as well because there was a marked difference in maturity level there."

"One of those things you're so young you realize like I'm not ready for this," she said. "I have no idea what I'm doing. There was such great chemistry between the characters, and I think people did fall in love with them because there was genuine friendship and love there on some level," she concluded.