In a new interview, Mischa Barton got candid about the trauma she experienced during the height of her fame while playing Marissa Cooper on The O.C.
"You can go to therapy every day for the rest of your life, but there's just a certain amount of trauma [from] all that I went through, particularly in my early twenties, that just doesn’t go away overnight," she told The Sunday Times.
The 37-year-old delved further into her days in the hit teen drama, noting that despite starting her modeling career when she was eight and becoming a TV star at 17, she was never "fully prepared for that level of fame because it has never been something that I have sought out."
She also opened up about being harassed by paparazzi, sharing that she couldn't leave her house without being hounded by photographers. "[The paparazzi] were doing all kinds of crazy stuff to me," she said, explaining that among those things, paparazzi tracked her car, tried to climb over her home's walls to break in, and paid off restaurants to be tipped off if she arrived.
"I was stalked," she noted. "I did go a little bit nuts at [one] point. I just felt really hopeless."
Barton's character on The O.C. was ultimately killed off in the show's iconic season 3 finale, allowing her to step away from the spotlight.
Currently, the actress is in a much better place, both in terms of her mental health and career. Though she admitted that the sound of cameras can trigger a panic attack due to her PTSD caused by those previous experiences, she's enjoying having a recurring role in British soap Neighbours and acting in indie flicks.