Mischa Barton Reveals She Dated O.C. Costar Ben McKenzie IRL

Originally appeared on E! Online

It turns out, this onscreen romance also bloomed IRL.

While Mischa Barton and Ben McKenzie famously played star-crossed lovers Marissa Cooper and Ryan Atwood on The O.C., she recently revealed they briefly formed an offscreen romance.

"It wasn't just onscreen," Mischa shared during the Feb. 21 episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast. "That was my first—I had no idea what I was doing."

And the 38-year-old, who has previously been open about her rocky time on the series, admitted her and Ben's relationship may have contributed to that difficult time.

"I think that kind of set things off on the wrong foot, too, because we threw ourselves all into it very fast," she continued, "and then you know when you break up, and things don't work and they see you dating different people—notoriously there was a lot of inter-dating on that show—it was definitely tricky that it happened like right out of the gate."

There was also the detail that when they started dating, Mischa was around 17 years old while Ben was 25.

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"[Show staff] were like, you know, 'Mischa's disappeared with Ben and she's only 17 and a half, 18, and the producers went to my parents," the 38-year-old remembered. "It was kind of a whole ordeal. And that's in the very beginning of the show before we're even like halfway through a season. There was a lot going on there, that show. Just so much happened."

E! News has reached out to Fox and reps for Ben but has not yet heard back.

Benjamin McKenzie, Mischa Barton
Albert L. Ortega/WireImage

The Neighbours actress also noted feeling a kind of pressure on herself to mature quickly after being cast as she was the only teen character who was actually a teen at the time.

"It was kind of complicated for me because I went into that like a virgin, like a kid," she explained, "really feeling like I needed to grow up quickly to feel like I could portray acting with people older than me.

"It was a bit like, 'Oh wow, they know what they're doing. There's gonna be relationships on this show, and you're gonna need to play that part," she continued. "And I didn't feel really ready for that because I was always a really late bloomer in school, and I hadn't really dated. I just had no idea what I was doing, so I felt like I needed to catch up."

Mischa has previously discussed her struggles after having risen to fame at such a young age.

As she told The Times in October, "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 20s, that just doesn't go away overnight."

"I don't think I was fully prepared for that level of fame," she confessed. "Because it has never been something that I have sought out. I really would much rather be anonymous."

For more costars who secretly dated while working together, keep reading.

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While filming Hannah Montana: The Movie in 2009, Cyrus quietly dated her on-screen love interest.

Till spilled the news about their two-month romance while promoting the Disney flick, telling an Atlanta radio station at the time, "I think it will make the movie a little better cause it was definitely real."


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