In Hollywood, troubled relationships between child stars and their parents aren’t anything new – and it seems Mischa Barton may be the latest actress taking a stand.
The star has filed a lawsuit against her mother (and former manager) Nuala, claiming she stole money from her, exploited her fame for commercial purposes and threw her out of her $7.8m Beverly Hills home.
Mischa’s lawyer Alex Weingarten described Nuala as a “greedy stage mother” in a statement for People.
“From the outset, Nuala positioned herself to siphon her daughter’s hard-earned money by purportedly acting as her talent manager – a role for which Nuala had absolutely no experience or training,” he said.
Mischa alleges that her parents haven’t had their own independent jobs for over 10 years and have made it clear she is “not welcome” at her Beverly Hills property. She says Nuala took control of her finances and gave her an “allowance” at her own discretion.
Mischa also claims her mother arranged endorsement deals and product launches under her name without consulting or compensating her, and withheld earnings from her recent film The Hoarder.
Mischa, 29, first rose to fame as a child actor on the soap All My Children and followed that up with appearances in Notting Hill and The Sixth Sense. Her breakout role was playing the beautiful but complicated Marissa Cooper in The O.C. television series.
Mischa with the rest of The O.C. cast
After the show ended, Mischa struggled to regain her earlier career heights, finding smaller parts in movies such as the St. Trinians remake in 2007. She returned to TV for The Beautiful Life, which was cancelled after two episodes, and appeared in an episode of Law & Order: SVU.
