Mischa Barton's Real-Life Romance With Ben McKenzie Caused Drama On The O.C. Set

It turns out that Mischa Barton and Ben McKenzie did date after all. For years (has it really been decades already?), "The O.C." co-stars and onscreen love interests denied speculation that they had ever been more than friends. "It's funny because they announce it like it's a fact: 'O.C. Stars, They're Dating.' That's hysterical. There's no basis for it. They never called me and checked it," Barton told Cosmopolitan in April 2004.

Barton admitted the rumors used to get to her. "When I first hear it, I cry and get upset, but finally, I get past the point of actually being mad," she said. Eventually, she and McKenzie would laugh about it together. "We actually make fun of the press," she said, describing that she and McKenzie sometimes tried to promote confusion by pretending to be seeing fellow co-stars Adam Brody and Rachel Bilson — who were in a relationship for three years while filming the hit show in the early aughts.

While she went to great lengths to deny any romance with McKenzie, Barton was more forthcoming about his romantic skills. When the interviewer asked whether the "Gotham" actor was a good kisser, she didn't mince her words. "I probably shouldn't say anything, but yes, he is," she quipped. Nearly 20 years later, Barton finally came clean about what happened between her and McKenzie in February 2024. But the relationship caused multiple issues on set, not only because showrunners were not okay with it but also because breakups are complicated.

Mischa Barton doesn't think back on her romance with Ben McKenzie with fondness. For one, it produced tension at work, as she was 17 and McKenzie was 25 when Season 1 came out. "I remember they were like, 'Mischa's disappeared with Ben and like, she's only 17-and-a-half, 18," she said on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast. And they actually went to great lengths in their efforts to prevent the relationship from happening. "The producers went to my parents ... It was kind of a whole ordeal," Barton told host Alex Cooper.

But Barton also suggested the split from McKenzie caused issues between them, which were hard to navigate considering it happened really early on. "There was a lot of jabs behind the scenes and off-camera," she said. "I felt like that kind of ostracized me." In fact, that may have played a part in Barton's exit from "The O.C."

In 2021, she hinted that her relationship with her co-stars influenced her decision to leave the show after Season 3. "It just felt like it was the best thing for me and my health and just in terms of not really feeling protected by my cast and crew at that point," she told E! News. While creator Josh Schwartz denied Barton wanted to leave the show, he confirmed the relationship between her and the others played a role. "It was a complicated chemistry with the cast," he told The Daily Beast in 2013. 

Mischa Barton wasn't ready for a lot of things that came with her being cast as the female lead role in "The O.C." Barton's relationship with Ben McKenzie made her feel vulnerable at a critical time in her life, especially since it happened shortly after the show aired. "I felt overwhelmed and not ready for any of that," she said on "Call Her Daddy." In a way, Barton felt she had no choice. "I went into that a virgin, a kid, really feeling like a needed to grow up quickly," she said.

This isn't the first time she discussed feeling pushed to lose her virginity because of the sexually charged show. In a June 2021 Harper's Bazaar U.K. essay, Barton admitted to sleeping with an unnamed man before she was ready. "I felt so much pressure to have sex, not just from him, but society in general," she penned. Barton also wasn't equipped to handle the complicated on-set dynamics. "There were people on that set that were very mean to me. It wasn't, like, the most ideal environment for a young, sensitive girl," she said in the E! News interview.

Not everyone agrees with Barton's perspective on how things went down on set, though. "I'm definitely pretty confused by most of it," Rachel Bilson said in response to Barton's claims on the "Everything Iconic" podcast. "And I don't know who she's referring to because I didn't personally witness any of that."