It’s not been a great run for Mischa Barton as of late. The former O.C. star had a less-than-spectacular time on Dancing with the Stars, comparing the “awful” experience to competing in the Hunger Games. On Thursday, the actress was hospitalized at LA’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. After a night out with friends, celebrating her 31st birthday, Mischa’s neighbors called police after seeing her exhibit unusual behavior. TMZ reported that Mischa, clad only in a white dress shirt and tie, was talking to herself on her backyard deck, falling backward and yelling things like, “Oh my God, it’s over! I feel it, and it’s angry!”
Mischa was admitted to the hospital for mental evaluation. She discovered that someone had slipped a dose of GHB, also known as the “date rape drug” into one of her drinks. Her erratic behavior apparently stemmed from the drug. After her release from the hospital, Mischa released a statement to People Magazine, sharing her story. She told the magazine:
On the evening of the 25th, I went out with a group of friends to celebrate my birthday. While having drinks, I realized that something was not right as my behavior was becoming erratic and continued to intensify over the next several hours.
I voluntarily went to get professional help, and I was informed by their staff that I had been given GHB. After an overnight stay, I am home and doing well. I would like to extend a big thanks of gratitude to the professionals at Cedars-Sinai for their great care and professionalism. This is a lesson to all young women out there, be aware of your surroundings.
I didn’t know dosing drinks was still happening and I feel bad for Mischa. She just wanted to celebrate her birthday with her friends. It’s admirable she shared her story to warn ladies that this still does happen, and that it can happen to anyone. Of course, Mischa has had some mental issues in the past, telling People she has a “full-on breakdown” in 2009 that resulted on her being admitted to the Cedars psychiatric ward on a 5150 involuntary hold. If she is having true problems again, I hope she gets the help she needs. If nothing else, let’s hope the rest of her year gets better.
Photo credit: Getty Images, WENN.com
Thats so scary, the poor woman…We were on holidays a number of years ago and my girlfriends drink was spiked (we think it was meant for someone else). It was so scary…we didn’t know what was happening to her and were terrified, she spent the night screaming crying and shaking . It was ‘lucky’ (for want of a better word) that I was with her and was able to help her out. I could only imagine what would have happened if it was someone else.
I’m so sorry that happened to you and your friend. That must have been terrifying! I’m so glad you are both safe.
Just to add some other (potentially non relevant) detail to the Misha story. You can also use GHB recreationally. It’s a popular downer to use after using a heavy upper, like coke or meth. It is NOT like what most people think when they hear “date rape drug.” It can be used as a date rape drug because it’s tasteless and odorless and becomes more potent when mixed with alcohol. I’m only adding this detail because Misha has a history of drug use. I’m not trying to say I don’t believe her account of what happened, everyone deserves to be believed.
Good lord that red jumpsuit and ankle boot outfit is horrendous.
I like Mischa but I’m not sure about this statement and reason for her behaviour. I hope she has a better year too.
Yep, bad reactions can happen to any drug but I didn’t think thats how GHB makes you behave. Her story around how the 5150 happened was as well, and both seemed like plot lines ripped from the OC. Watching that show with my friends is one of those rare high school occurrences i can still manage to look back on with joy, and I want the best for her. Basically, I want her actual life to be the opposite of her character Marissa’s. I hope things turn around for her. It sounds like she needs to get away from her mom’s negative influence and the limelight and concentrate on her own health and happiness.
You can never tell how that would react with any other meds she was/is on. I remember a particular incident where my doctor told me to add an herbal supplement to my routine meds and it jacked me up. It scared my husband so bad he almost took me to the er. I hestitate to add anything after that.
GHB is also a known party drug, taken in a lower dose than used for date rape. It wouldn’t surprise me if she was just partying and doing GHB for funsies.
MTE.
Yeah, I can’t call it. Maybe it’s the truth. Maybe it’s damage control. At any rate, I wish her well.
Same
Yeah, hard to call but good luck to her.
It happened to a friend of mine in college, she was working in a local hotel late night shift so finished for about two in the morning, the manager offered her a lift home so she would not have to walk/get a taxi, asked her to wait a few minutes till he was finished cashing out for that night, poured her a glass a coke while she waited and she lost about two days, she still does not know what happened that night, the people she was sharing a house with at the time reported her as coming home at 7 that morning and thought she had been out partying after work as she was so out of it. It still horrifies me, it took her a long time to recover any sense of security.
It happened to my best friend too. We were out clubbing together, someone bought her and her friend a drink and then I have lost them. Couldn’t find them anywhere. I phoned both of them a thousand times and i couldn’t report them as missing to the police either because it was too soon.
The next morning they arrived with dirty and ripped clothes, with dirty hands and face, no shoes and no bags and they couldn’t remember anything related to that night.
They sprang back to consciousness while on a bus out of town. Like they literally just woke up.
This is so so scary and since that moment i never accept drinks from anyone i don’t know.
Really sadly/awfully it can happen with drinks from people you do know too 🙁
You are right Lex. I rephrase it with ‘i never accept drinks from people i don’t trust’
Unfortunately, it can also happen when you’re around people you do trust.
When I was 18 I went out to bar where a friend of mine used to work. I knew he had a crush on me but wasn’t interested. The next thing I remember is waking up next to him, with bruises and bitemarks all over my body. And him saying I wanted it…
Back in my early 20s I was out partying with some friends. We’d had a few drinks so we were tipsy, but no worse. Some guys at the bar bought us drinks, we were chatting with them… and then it all went black. I came to in a completely different part of the club than the one I remember last being in, leaning against a wall and with a splitting headache. I just had this overwhelming feeling that something was horribly wrong, and I recall a guy standing across the hallway we were in, arms crossed and intently looking at me.
All I could think of was that I had to get home because something was so so WRONG, so I got my coat and grabbed the first cab I saw. The guy who’d been watching me followed me all the way to the cab. Anyway, got home safely, slept for 18 hours straight, and felt like crap for another 24 hours. To this day I believe I was drugged and that I very narrowly escaped being raped, or worse.
How do we know she didn’t take it on purpose and had a bad trip?
If she did, the only real issue is that she feels she has to justify it. She hasn’t hurt anyone.
Questioning this account. Have dealt with this in my line of work. Generally GhB results in memory loss, unconsciousness and/or blackout. The scariest is that it apparently prevents the formation of memories. So in those moments before you lose consciousness you would be aware of what was happening & all its horror but unable to remember it later on. So if it really was GhB she would have no memory of her increasing erratic behaviour. And she wouldn’t have been able to know to seek professional help – or remember that either. As well, GHB clears the system so fast unless a sample is taken & tested within a few hours, it disappears from your system. Bottom line, unfortunately, stay safe, don’t leave drinks unattended and always have a trusted friend with you.
Odd – I was always under the impression that GHB was basically ‘liquid ecstasy’, which I didn’t realize could cause black-outs.
I was only questioning her account because I was shocked at how angry she became, when she should have been touchy-feely and happy as heck. LOL
@heat – that is directly from a forensic toxicologist I worked with on a case – so yes, it can and does cause blackouts. That said, there is no quality control in an illegal drug lab so who knows what else can be mixed in to it. And for the same reason who knows the strength or amount administered or how long the effects will have. But the biggest thing is the memory loss and unconsciousness – hence the name date rape drug.
How long do toxicology reports take? Although all she actually says in her statement is “their staff said I had been given GHB.”
Regardless I feel awful for anyone who has such inner turmoil that it has them crying out and wailing over a fence. She’s obviously in terrible pain.
GHB at the right dose is definitely like liquid ecstasy. But it is one of the most difficult drugs to dose correctly due to variations in batches and people’s metabolisms. I was told that you should never do it except with the most trusted of friends and then at the lowest dose to test how it’s going first. At incorrect doses, it is definitely a sedative/anesthetic that will make you unconscious.
It does both and can be detected up to 24 hrs post administration
It has been used in v small doses as a party drug and as a tasteless colourless date rape drug
I hope she is getting the help she needs
unless she is or was using any other form of drugs. even certain medications.
i believe her. she gave me no reason not to.
Its always complicated to call out someone alleging something that serious but I dont believe her narrative at all! Two things. Firstly, anyone who has seen the video knows thats not GHB. Seriously, I dont know how this story is being taken seriously given that video. Secondly, I distinctly remember what she claimed on the View the last time she was involuntarily committed. She claimed that the dentist had messed up her procedure and she resisted an unnecessary “big injection”. He then used his dentistry powers to get her committed….because she refused his treatment. Both accounts are lies.
She either has a drug problem or an untreated psychiatric (most likely both) that she doesnt want to disclose which is absolutely her right. What is wrong is creating fiction that could land an innocent in some serious trouble and undermines real GHB cases. Lets wait and see if she reported to the cops, if they tested her bloodstream and if they pursue an investigation.
@Merry: Yes. Mental health issues + drugs. I’ve seen it firsthand with a loved one. Misha is not telling the truth, which is totally her prerogative.
I think she was on something else or a combination of other things and this was just a cover, which I’m not judging. If I were famous and tripping balls on the good (or bad?) shit and there was footage of it I’d probably do the same. I had a friend who took ghb recreationally and nothing like this ever happened, and I took it once with him to see what it was like in a safe place. It just made me floaty and chatty, and then go to sleep. No hallucinations or anything. But people could react to it differently, or maybe she was drugged and it reacted with anything else she might have been taking.
A few years ago I was in a lot of pain and my mum gave me a painkiller. In 30 minutes I was having a full blown meltdown. I couldn’t walk straight, I had to crawl and hang on to walls and furniture, I was tired, my eyes weren’t cooperating and I was convinced that if I went to sleep I would not wake up. I wanted to cry but couldn’t, and I was paranoid.
I had to be taken to hospital. It seems the pain killer was too strong and I am allergic to it so I basically developed every single side affect to the drug. I knew it was the drug so I can’t even imagine being in Mischa’s place and not understanding WTH is going on.
I would guess Mischa has already tried all the drugs available and is fully aware if she may be allergic to any of them.
Men need to be careful as well out there! A friend had a drink bought for him by another man. My friend split the drink with a woman he was out with, and they both knew pretty quickly something was wrong. Luckily they were out with a group and were quickly escorted to a safe place. They both fell into a really deep sleep for many hours and could t remember much the next day. And that was one dose split between two people! Very very scary and I’m so glad both my friends were safe in the end.
It seems like this drug can have different effects for different people, maybe depending on what else has been imbibed, how much was taken etc.
it happened to me twice and to my sister once and let me tell you, date raping is alive and well. even if she did drugs voluntarily and it backfired, at least she is talking about a real problem that happens everyday instead of saying she accidentally took her prescribed pain killers with a glass of white wine or some bullshit other celebs often use to cover up their overdoses
This horrid problem continues to exist. I know someone who was a victim. Nowadays when she is in a public space or party she carries her drink with her everywhere or seriously keeps her eye on it to make it more difficult for anyone to slip a drug into it. Good for her for speaking out!!!!
Her drink wasn’t drugged. She can’t take accountability for her actions and needs something to blame. See Blind Gossip for additional details. She’s an addict and a liar. She needs help, but not because she was drugged.
She’s a long time party girl well known for using hard drugs while clubbing. her past involuntary hold and signs of mental illness all point to something else.
I know a woman who took strong anti depressants and was given ghb at a bar. It basically makes you black out drunk and lethargic. I had to pour her into a cab and take her home. Would be highly unlikely to make someone agitated and angry like she was. She went to the hospital in the morning, meaning the ghb would not be measurable in her system. So the hospital guessed it might be that or she made it up like she did the story about her dentist.
Didn’t know it was still happening? When did you think it stopped?
I know, I still hear about it all the time, this isn’t a thing of the past.
Her neighbor filmed the breakdown she was having and I saw it on the daily mail yesterday. It was pretty heartbreaking to watch.
I know everyone reacts differently to substances but I myself have been slipped GHB (yes it still happens – a lot). And based on my experience and what I have heard from other people who have been through the same thing this sounds nothing like GHB. I think she has a drug problem coupled with mental health issues.
On the one hand I am glad that she is raising awareness of the fact that creeps out there are still doing this and reminding us that we need to remain vigilent. But, if she is busted lying about this further down the road I feel like it will cast a shadow of doubt over anyone else who comes forward and claims that they were drugged without their consent.
So the person who’s last major hospitalization was caused by dental work also had her latest breakdown caused by being slipped GHB?
All you ladies upthread sharing stories, my heart breaks for all of you (and your friends).
I would just like to point out that while GHB can definitely be used as date rape drug because it can make you unconscious at higher doses, it is also a widely used drug to simply get high. At the right dose, it’s supposed to be an incredible high (ahem). So while I will give Mischa the benefit of the doubt here, given her history it’s also quite possible that Mischa was just partying with friends and had a freak out. It happens but of course she is not going to issue a public statement admitting that.
Always liked her and felt like I want to protect her. I love her statement, classy and informative. Hopefully the rest of her year will end up on a positive path.
Really? I cant decide if this is fact or PR spin. When there is actually a police investigation, I might be less sceptical, they will require the doctors report to pursue the case.
It happened to me when I was working at a salon. A stylist thought it would be funny to see how the assistants would react to GHB. Little did she know that I was an epileptic and I had to call me neurologist. What a damn loser that stylist turned out to be. She became hooked to anything that she could shoot up. I have so much respect for people that can successfully go through rehab. She was never one of them
Every woman I know who goes out even to the corner pub alone has had someone try to slip something in her drink, or hand her a glass of ‘water’. I think bartenders need to take more ownership of what goes on under their watch sometimes. But of course, the real blame lies with the would-be rapists (who don’t think they’re rapists, just increasing their chances of getting laid) who are literally poisoning women. I don’t know how US law treats it, but it’s a criminal poisoning charge in Canada, a serious felony.