Mischa Barton is cover girl for the September 2008 edition of Marie Claire magazine. In the 20th Anniversary Issue of the magazine, Mischa gets candid about the press, about her life, and about recovering from her mistakes.

On meeting her fans:

“Sometimes I am a bit surprised when people come up to me and they’re like, “You’re so nice! I didn’t expect you to be so cool.” It’s so weird because I’m like, “Well, how did you expect me to be?” I’m not really sure what people’s preconceived notions are.”

On her DUI charge:

“It was a low point in my life. I mean, the truth of the matter is, I was being irresponsible to begin with – I moved to LA and never got a licence,” she explains. “I don’t know,

it was just an awful low for me.”

MISCHA BARTON MARIE CLAIREOn the press coverage it received:

“Even though, in a lot of ways, my upbringing has been quite liberal, something like that is embarrassing and appalling for my parents. It was a surreal experience and I was shocked at how much press it made but, the thing is, I apologised – and you have to just hope that that’s enough, because what else can you do? I’m just living life, and people make mistakes, you know?”

When will she return to television?:

“when I understand it better. Because I didn’t understand it. When you’re 16, you don’t know what the hell you’re getting into. Like, I had no clue. LA was a shock to the system.”

On her love life:

“I’m lucky to know you can have more than one soulmate in life,” she says. “But, like a true actress, I’m always changing the way I feel about who I want to be. Nowadays, I feel I’m settling more into a woman and I’m understanding who I am.”

Check out the video of the cover shoot and a slideshow of additional photography.

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