Earlier this week, ABC announced the full cast for the upcoming 22nd season of "Dancing With The Stars" and fans of "The O.C." were thrilled to hear that Mischa Barton would be joining.
Turns out, the 30-year-old actress had been asked to dance on the popular show in the past and luckily, the timing of season 22 finally worked in her favor. Ever since her "The O.C." character Marissa Cooper died on the show's 2006 season 3 finale, Barton has appeared in several indie movies. Luckily, there is some free time in her schedule because now she's ready to hit the dance floor with her partner, Artem Chigvintsev.
"They've asked me for many years and it just wasn't working with my schedule and it just wasn't the right time," she said. "I just like staying busy and it's fun training and why not? It's a challenge and it's a nice thing to do for a second and see how you do."
While she's very excited about "the costumes and the music," she's especially happy she was paired up with Chigvintsev. Even though she's danced in some films before, this is an entirely different experience.
"I keep telling [Artem] you get, like, four or fives takes at least where this is live!" she said of her partner wanting to see her dance out some of the scenes from her movies. Either way, she's just excited to be doing something challenging.
"I just wanted to try something new," she said, "and push myself!"
Since the cast announcement, Barton has shared a few photos of her getting into the dancing spirirt. "Dance your heart out! Literally! 10 days left & freaking!" she captioned a selfie. She then posted a photo of her balancing a mini Mirrorball trophy on her head to get her body ready to dance. "Artem making me work on that posture," she wrote. "So I grabbed that mirror ball trophy for practice."
All jokes aside, Barton plans to go far in the competition and turn this experience into something positive. "She wants to win and make this a catalyst to getting more TV and film opportunities," a source said. "She has had weight and substance abuse issues that she wants to address and put to the forefront because she feels that it would help others who are going through or have in the past gone through similar struggles. Plus, the money doesn't hurt, and winning she'll get more, so if she doesn't win she'll think the whole process was a bust because she is really trying to get that trophy and that payday that comes with it."
