Rachel Bilson Responds To Mischa Barton's'O.C.' Bullying Claims:'Wait, What?'

"I am pretty confused by most of it," Bilson said of her former co-star's memories of the iconic adolescent soap.

Rachel Bilson Responds To Mischa Barton's'O.C.' Bullying Claims:'Wait, What?'

Mischa Barton raised eyebrows of this non-Peter Gallagher variety last month in an meeting with E! News about her less-than-stellar experience behind the scenes of the iconic teen soap"The O.C."

The celebrity partly attributed her sudden exit from the series (relive your middle school heartbreak here, if you dare) into co-star Rachel Bilson being upgraded to a series regular"last minute" after the first season, which she said resulted in"evening out everyone's pay."

Barton also claimed to be the goal of"bullying" in men on place, which left her"not really feeling shielded by my cast and crew" -- some of whom she alleged were"very mean" during her time on the series.

With co-star Melinda Clarke, who famously played Barton's character's mother on the series.

"You understand, Melinda and I were talking immediately after [the meeting ] came out," Bilson said. '''

Bilson took special problem with Barton's"totally false" framing of how she's was added to the throw.

"That is misinformation," she explained. "Where are we going with this and what is she trying to say? That, I'd really like to speak to her and learn what her experience was from her perspective because I saw things somewhat differently."

Clarke, who also started the series as a veteran participant, went on to clarify that"We were initially supposed to be show regulars during the pilot, and they do that because they see a future for these characters. But then the powers that be stated,'No, you are going to need to wait, you are going to be guest stars to the first 11 episodes,' and on the back nine [episodes] we became series regulars."

As for Barton's bullying claims, both of her former co-stars say they're in the dark.

"I really don't understand who she is referring to because I did not personally witness any of this."

"I did not either," Clarke added. "However, we can only imagine that it had been pretty, like I said, overwhelming, and exactly how to navigate these waters in that age."

Despite the decades-old drama, there does not appear to be much bad blood between the cast members, together with Clarke imagining just how much pressure Barton was under at the time.

"Somebody who's 16, 17, 18 -- that number of hours of work [and] pressure at such a young age -- at best, you are exhausted, and at worst, it is overwhelming and chaotic, so it kind of breaks my heart a little to know," she said.

"We knew there was a lot of pressure, but when it was actually that bad of an experience, that is not appropriate for any young man. But a few of the remarks were rather perplexing to me, therefore that I don't understand what the truth is about that."

Bilson extended an olive branch Barton's way by inviting her podcast"so we can listen to her whole view and what she's saying she adored."