Mischa Barton: DWTS is like Hunger Games ‘I was glad to get kicked off’

Mischa Barton disliked competing on Dancing With The Stars earlier this year and it showed in her poor performance. She seemed unhappy to be there and she got voted off second, after Geraldo Rivera. A lot of that may have had to do with the fact that she has few fans left from The O.C. and whatever career she’s had since, but she also failed to win over viewers and generally had a bad attitude. In a new interview with The Ringer, Mischa explained her turn on DWTS as something like The Hunger Games and she even used that comparison – she was swept up in, she had absolutely no say in how it went, and she was glad to leave. At least she was honest. Mischa is current hosting a car show on the Esquire network called Joyride. She owns a vintage Cadillac, she allegedly fixed it the day of the interview, and it’s a hobby of hers. During her interview with Ringer she took the journalist for a ride in her Cadillac and they visited the Peterson Automobile Museum, which sounded particularly fun for Mischa.

On her turn on DWTS
I had no idea it would be so bad. I got told off by my dancer. I was supposed to control the costumes, I was told that I could do the design aspect of it, that’s kind of the reason why I agreed to do it

She was told she would have creative control with DWTS
That didn’t happen. It wasn’t collaborative like a choreographer on a film set. … I was so confused by it. It was like The Hunger Games. It was all a popularity contest. It was awful. I was so glad to get kicked off.

She likes using Instagram
I remember the days when you had no voice, and they could make up stories and say whatever they wanted, and now at least they have an insight into your life. People can see what you’re really like. Twitter less so, but Instagram has an artistic side to it, where you can see through that person’s eye, what they creatively choose, what they’re up to and who they are — you get a feeling for them. I enjoy it now.

On getting backlash for responding to the Alton Sterling shooting with a bikini pic
I mean, yeah, it is what it is. I just know now to really try not to make emotional statements, which is the main thing. It tends to happen to everybody at some point.

She thinks she had ghosts in her old house, consulted a medium
He was so right about a lot of shit. I was really freaked out, but I keep going over and over it in my head — it was dead family things he couldn’t have looked up. I think he’s got talent.

[From The Ringer via E! Online]

Mischa is living in an apartment in West Hollywood now, which the author calls “temporary” but will likely be more permanent because Mischa is redecorating the kitchen. She sounded both wistful of her past level of fame and grateful that it’s over, as if she was never quite comfortable in her own skin. She talked a little about the time she was hospitalized, which she previously blamed on medication for a wisdom tooth operation but now calls “necessary after so many disaster cases. You need to keep your head on straight. I needed that time for me.” She’s gone through a lot professionally and personally. In 2015 she sued her mom for stealing millions from her while managing her career, something the article didn’t mention, but that lawsuit was dismissed earlier this year.

As for Mischa’s thoughts on DWTS, it seems like she could have avoided a lot of that by just doing her homework first. She said they were trying to get her on the show for years. Did she even watch it in that time? It’s pretty obviously a show where you have to put the work in and learn how to dance, something she’s admitted was hard for her. How much “artistic input” did she think she was going to have when she had no prior knowledge of dancing and couldn’t do it?

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17 Responses to “Mischa Barton: DWTS is like Hunger Games ‘I was glad to get kicked off’”

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  1. naomipaige says:

    Ho-hmmm. Sounds like as sore loser to me.

    • Fanny says:

      Mischa was one of the most difficult, obnoxious, and uncooperative stars to EVER appear on DWTS, which is saying a lot. And the show was so nice to her and didn’t call her out for it.

      She wrote a weekly blog on People and it was so delusional. I pitied her poor partner, whom she threw under the bus at every opportunity.

      I loved it when she spent a whole episode complaining about the “music problems” that sabotaged her dance. She had no music problems. She just didn’t like that you have to learn the dance before you get to practice it with music, which is how it’s done.

      And during every live show she was lethargic, spacey and weird (i.e., she appeared to be on something) which didn’t help her performance at all. Can’t blame DWTS for that.

  2. Kylie says:

    I’m sure she wasn’t upset with the six figure paycheck she received for a few weeks of work.

  3. Esmom says:

    I’m not a fan and never watched her show but I like what she says here, she seems to have gained a good perspective on fame and life after fame. As for DWTS, I could believe that she didn’t really know what she was getting into and I can also believe that it’s a bewildering mix of hard work and politics.

  4. Kitten says:

    She will never learn her lesson about shit-talking the people who give her a paycheck.
    She did the same with The OC and it bit her in the ass. She really needs to learn to be more professional if she wants to have any kind of a career because the acting talent is just not there.

    Also, that pic of her on a yacht with a write-up about Alton Sterling? Girl NO…just NO.

    • Bridget says:

      She will also never learn the lesson to JUST BE NICE. She’s mad because professional choreographers and costumers, who all do this for a job, on a crazy time crunch weren’t interested in hearing her ideas on a subject she has no experience with? Because it was hard to dance? Her attitude is what sunk her years ago, and even after a very hard fall she still hasn’t learned that lesson.

  5. Kiki says:

    Mischa Barton…. Does the saying “don’t bite the hand that feeds you” means anything to you? If you didn’t want to be on DWTS, then why did you take the job? Also, I appreciate you caring cause for Alterton Sterling and the BLM movement but I would be so proud of you when take the time and money to the Black Lives Matter movement or send flowers the family. This is not the way to go. However, MB just thank your lucky stars you have a TV show as host.

    • Sunnydaze says:

      I’m unfamiliar with this bikini/ sterling fiasco. Can someone give me a recap?

      Edit: nevermind, I’m my cold medicine induced haze I missed the link and caught myself up….yikes…

  6. Fluff says:

    Okay but girl is working those jumpsuits tho…

  7. Aiobhan Targaryen says:

    Her comparison is ott. It is a competition show that has people voting for who they think is the best dancing couple or the most charismatic contestant. No on dies at the end. DWTS is not a Russian reality show.

    She reminds me of Lindsey Lohan for some reason: a lot of potential squandered because of too much ego, drugs, and lack of boundaries and home training from the parents.

  8. Hazel says:

    Her main reason for signing up for a dance show was that she thought she’d have input on her costumes? Really?

  9. HookedonCoffee says:

    She sounds like a diva who got upset when the entire show didn’t let her call the shots.

    ‘I got told off by my dancer’ sounds like code for, ‘he told me to practice x hours a day, and I said, ‘yeah, but then I will miss brunching with the girls!’

    “It wasn’t collaborative” sounds like code for, “they didn’t just roll their eyes, write down what I wanted, do it, and then edit things to not make my ideas look like crap later.”

    “It away like the Hunger Games.” HahAHAHA! This woman would literally die in an actual work place. Someone would strangle her. Just like the Hunger Games.

    As for the medium, he didn’t need to look anything up! A dead family, in a house? That barely takes skill at cold reading.

  10. Bridget says:

    Even after a hard fall from grace, Mischa still has the same rotten attitude. She was one of the worst of that early-mid 2000s celebutaunte pack, and partied and obnoxioused her way out of her career. Given a 2nd chance and she still hasn’t changed. When someone shows you who they are, believe them.

  11. ashley says:

    are those photos recent? She’s looking so healthy and good.