Mischa Barton is very happy that she is no longer in the spotlight and that tabloids no longer constantly capture her life.

Former O.C. star Mischa Barton, several years ago, had to constantly fend off rumors of her behavior and habits. But, since the cancellation of her show The Beautiful Life, Barton has been able to enjoy much more privacy.

"I'm so relieved it's not how it was," Mischa Barton told the Daily Beast. "It's not the person. It was the time. Everything was an 'It' girl this or 'It' girl that. It was just over the top."

After playing Marissa Cooper on The O.C., Barton was catapulted into the spotlight, to the extent that everything she did made headlines.

After she was killed off the Fox show in 2006 and dropped from her talent agency in 2008, she started going for lower-profile roles, finally breaking free from relentless paparazzi.

Barton's post-O.C. project The Beautiful Life didn't get the ratings or viewers it needed to stay on the air, so after its failure, Barton decided to take roles that kept her out of the spotlight. She has starred in Law & Order: SVU and the horror film Apartment 1303.

Barton has taken these low-profile roles because keeping her personal life personal is important to her. She told the magazine that the negative attention was starting to take its toll on other areas of her life.

Barton explained, "It's invasive. I find, in order to get your job done, actors need a certain amount of anonymity. You're being blown up to that extent, and everybody is following every little piece of your life. 'Oh, she went to Starbucks to get a Frappuccino with a caramel.' Then they follow you to the gas station."

"It's impossible to concentrate on the work. When you just want to go on vacation and you hear a twig snap and there's a guy in a tree, it's not relaxing. You can't be a real person. So I'm happy things have changed," she said.

Mischa Barton is currently promoting her latest film A Resurrection, a horror flick. She told Entertainment Weekly about her experience working with the late Michael Clarke Duncan, who also starred in the film.

She said, "Every time he was on set, we had good laughs and good vibes. It's tragic. He was just such a nice guy. Nobody could say anything negative about Michael. We were so lucky to have him."

Although Barton has mostly stuck to films recently, she hasn't ruled out starring in another television series.

Barton said, "If the right role comes along now in television, absolutely. It's not where I started. I started in theater and film so I went back to the roots. And there's a good chance I'll be doing some off Broadway this year in New York. I don't really limit myself."