Barton: 'People think I'm unstable'

Mischa Barton has complained that people look at her like she is "unstable" following her hospitalisation earlier this year.

Speaking to the New York Observer, the actress admitted that she is "sick" of answering questions about it.

"I just had a bad time of year, and now it's all over and done with," she said. "I'm just very happy to be feeling happy again and back on top of it and not so worried about everything.

"It was just too much to handle for me at the time."

She continued: "One stay in the hospital was turned into this huge 'She's lost her marbles' thing, and people look at me like I'm unstable and they should probably cross the street when they see me."

Barton, who recently blamed her hospitalisation on wisdom tooth treatment, also criticised the media for not giving stars enough privacy.

"I have a lot of difficulty with the way our society wants to see its public figures," she said. "Before, there used to be a kind of privacy to those people that made them interesting because they were enigmatic. They had something about them that was untouchable.

"People are becoming more safe in the industry in general about working with people who are artistic and maybe just a little bit more bent.

"They want the safer option. They want someone more cookie-cutter."