Rachel Bilson wants Mischa Barton to appear on her new podcast about ‘The OC’
Rachel Bilson says she would be ‘friendly’ toward Mischa Barton should she appear on her new podcast about ‘The OC’ — ‘Just lost touch with her so long ago’ — and talks playing Summer Roberts on the hit show — ‘I like to think I was a much nicer person’
Video transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MONET X CHANGE: Hey y'all. I am super excited to chat with our guest today. Y'all know her from "The OC" and "Heart of Dixie". Please welcome the fabulous Rachel Bilson.
Hey girl. So you recently launched a podcast called "Welcome to The OC, Bitches!" with your co-star, Melinda Clark. Tell me about it.
RACHEL BILSON: Yeah. I was approached and asked if I wanted to do this thing and I said, why not? It sounded like fun. It's pretty crazy to revisit things from 18 years ago. It's bringing up so many memories and behind the scenes stories.
MONET X CHANGE: Yeah.
RACHEL BILSON: And we have some guests coming on and they're sharing their experience. So I just hope people aren't bored.
MONET X CHANGE: They will not be.
RACHEL BILSON: We had Tate Donovan, who played Jimmy Cooper on our show.
MONET X CHANGE: Mm-hmm.
RACHEL BILSON: And there were some comments he had made about the younger kids on the show being divas or whatever it was. And we have him on, so he gets to clear that up.
MONET X CHANGE: Oh, that's good.
RACHEL BILSON: Yes.
MONET X CHANGE: Oh.
RACHEL BILSON: Yes.
MONET X CHANGE: So Melinda played Julie Cooper on the show, who was the mother of Mischa Barton's character, Marissa Cooper. When will Mischa be making an appearance on the podcast? Is she going to be coming?
RACHEL BILSON: I don't know. I hope so. I would love to get her on.
MONET X CHANGE: Yeah.
RACHEL BILSON: Can you-- Can you reach out to her for me?
MONET X CHANGE: Oooh! I-- Rachel, are y'all-- y'all not friends no more?
RACHEL BILSON: Oh, no. We would totally be friendly. I just lost touch with her so long again.
MONET X CHANGE: You lost touch. Yeah.
RACHEL BILSON: Yeah. I'm going to DM her. We'll see.
MONET X CHANGE: Yeah. This podcast is going to rehash a lot of juicy history, which folks are obsessed with. But you recently posted a throwback picture with your high school friend, Rami Malek, and he asked you to take it down. Not very nice. Why are you so anxious about it? And why was he so mad?
RACHEL BILSON: He reached out to me after it came out and we had a really good conversation. We both said, like, this all happened for a reason and we got to reconnect and stuff. So that was the positive from it. But I get people wanting to be private when they're thrown into the limelight. You know what I mean?
MONET X CHANGE: Yeah. I get that too. I will Google the high school yearbook and find some other pictures of him and post them on my Instagram.
All right, Rami? DM me. Let's talk about it. Leave Rachel alone.
RACHEL BILSON: You're like, I just want Rami to DM me.
MONET X CHANGE: That's the real. How many other celebrities did you go to high school with?
RACHEL BILSON: Actually, there were quite a few at my high school. Kirsten Dunst there. Katharine McPhee was there. I think Michelle Trachtenberg was there for a minute.
MONET X CHANGE: Oh my God.
RACHEL BILSON: But yeah, Katharine McPhee and I actually did musicals together and stuff. We had a pretty, pretty interesting group of kids coming out of Notre Dame High School.
MONET X CHANGE: Rachel Bilson, summer Roberts, two California girls. How, like, different was y'all's upbringing?
RACHEL BILSON: Very different.
MONET X CHANGE: OK.
RACHEL BILSON: You know, I mean, Summer Robert, like, that whole vibe of Orange County and growing up with, like, the McMansions, and the wealth, and the beach. And that was a way different thing. We didn't have, like, all this, like, lavish stuff or anything.
MONET X CHANGE: Oh, got it. Got it.
RACHEL BILSON: And I like to think that I was a much nicer person off the bat than Summer was.
MONET X CHANGE: As someone who's not from California, when you think of California, you think that everyone is Summer Roberts, you know?
RACHEL BILSON: Or just only wearing bikinis.
MONET X CHANGE: Right. All the time. I'm like, do they ever wear regular clothes, girl?
RACHEL BILSON: Yeah. Yeah. No tops, just bikinis.
MONET X CHANGE: How has been the pandemic, home teaching your daughter?
RACHEL BILSON: My daughter just recently started going back in person. And it has been the best thing.
MONET X CHANGE: Yeah.
RACHEL BILSON: Because as a mom you're like, I don't know how to get her to listen or focus. Oh man. God bless all of our teachers is all I have to say.
MONET X CHANGE: And because-- because Hayden, your ex, was in Canada, how did you guys manage co-parenting during the pandemic?
RACHEL BILSON: Yeah. He did a lot of time in LA and then--
MONET X CHANGE: OK.
RACHEL BILSON: And then Briar and I both went with him up to Canada so she could spend time up there--
MONET X CHANGE: Nice.
RACHEL BILSON: --this past fall. So yeah, we just worked it out. You know, we do the best we can.
MONET X CHANGE: So any hacks, tips, tricks you can offer someone listening about solid co-parenting?
RACHEL BILSON: I say, never talk about anything in front of the kids.
MONET X CHANGE: Word. Word.
RACHEL BILSON: Just try to work it out between each other. Compromise is huge.
MONET X CHANGE: Yeah.
RACHEL BILSON: Like, if your kid wants to stay with the other parent, I'm happy. Like, I get-- I'm happy about it. I support it. Like, whatever makes her happy, that's the biggest thing.
MONET X CHANGE: Rachel, thank you so much for joining me today. This was so fun and I--
RACHEL BILSON: It was so much fun.
MONET X CHANGE: I am genuinely excited to listen to the pod. I'm going to get my "OC" life. Thank you so much.
RACHEL BILSON: Thank you so much. You have a good day.
MONET X CHANGE: You too, my dear.
RACHEL BILSON: Bye.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
