Barton: Stress led to hospital stay

British-born actress Mischa Barton said working, traveling and wisdom tooth surgery amounted to a perfect storm that led to her recent hospitalization.

The former star of The O.C. and cast member of the upcoming TV drama The Beautiful Life was placed under a psychiatric hold in a Los Angeles hospital this summer. People.com said Barton, 23, talked to Time Out New York about her hospitalization in her first interview since her release.

I went through a tough spot where everything compounded on me, and it was like a perfect storm, like everything was happening to me at once, she said.

People.com quoted her as telling the other magazine she had been traveling abroad for contract stuff and then had a terrible wisdom tooth surgery — a procedure she said is still just healing.

I had to get through it without proper painkillers because I couldn’t take those during work, said the actress, who was arrested in 2007 for driving while intoxicated and marijuana possession.

So it’s been a nightmare, she added. I was down in the dumps about everything there for a while. … Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom about things and have to get the most stressed out just to feel better again. I got completely stressed out and couldn’t handle everything, and now I feel really in control.