Mischa Barton says she quit The OC due to “bullying” on set by men

The star recently spoke about her experience on the set of the hit TV show.

Mischa Barton has said that the reason she quit The OC was due to bullying on set. The actress played series lead Marissa Cooper on the hugely popular drama for the first three seasons, before leaving in 2006. Her character was killed off in the shocking season three finale. Since then, however, Mischa has spoken about her time on the show and the reasons behind her departure. The actress told E! News that she left due to poor treatment on set. She said: "I've always felt ashamed in a way to really talk about what went on behind the scenes because I've always been a very private person and very aware of people's feelings. "Now that we're living in this era where we do speak out about our experiences and women do come clean about what was really going on behind the scenes and how they were treated, it's a slightly different thing." She went on to say that while there were a number of reasons she left the show, there was "bullying from some of the men on set that felt really shitty." She added that as the series continued, her schedule got more intense. The producers in turn gave her the option of either killing off her character, or giving Marissa the option to come back in the future. At the same time, Barton was receiving offers from big films and had to turn them down due to her involvement with The OC. The actress said that leaving the show permanently felt like the best thing for her to do. She added that didn't feel "protected" by the cast and crew either. Additionally, Mischa told the publication that she is working on a number of projects to address her experiences on the set of the hit TV show.