The Hills: New Beginnings's Mischa Barton has split with her boyfriend, Australian model James Abercrombie, after two years of dating. The reality TV star wants to take time to focus on her career.
Viewers were first introduced to Barton in 2003 on the teen drama The O.C. - set in Orange County, California and centering on a group of affluent high schoolers. Barton, who started the show when she was just 17 years old, quit the series in Season 3, at which time her character, Marissa Cooper, was killed off. The show eventually ended in 2007 after four seasons. In the years following The O.C., Barton struggled to get her career back on track. She made headlines for getting a DUI in 2007 and being hospitalized in a psych ward in 2009. In an attempt to revamp her image, Barton recently joined the cast of The Hills: New Beginnings, a reboot of MTV's The Hills, which was inspired by The O.C. While Barton was dating Abercrombie when she first began filming, the two have now called it quits.
A source recently revealed to E! News that Barton has decided to end things with Abercrombie in order to focus on her career. The two have been dating since the spring of 2017, after meeting at a party in L.A. Barton's friend told E! News that the actress views her new reality show as an actual second chance at a fulfilling career and that she's "super happy about her future again" and wants to remain "focused." They added that Barton isn't just trying to revive her career, but that she's trying to change "her life."
So far on The Hills: New Beginnings, Barton's gotten into some drama, particularly with Perez Hilton. The former tabloid writer used to publish hurtful articles about Barton's body and personal life, and so she decided to confront him about it. Hilton and the actress had it out in an earlier episode of the season. Other than that, Barton seems to fit in nicely with the rest of the cast. She's already made close friends with some of the women on the show, like Stephanie Pratt, Audrina Patridge, and Jason Wahler's wife, Ashley.
While this season of the reality show hasn't been 100-percent smooth sailing for Barton, it's nice to see her happy with a new career path. Fans will have to tune in this season to see if the star moves on with another love interest any time soon.
The Hills: New Beginnings airs Mondays at 10pm EST on MTV.
Source: E! News