AceShowbiz - Mischa Barton fears she has been left tarnished following her stay in a psychiatric ward last year, because strangers stare at her and brand her "insane". The former "The O.C." star shocked fans in July 2009 when she was placed under an involuntary psychiatric hold.

She subsequently revealed a botched operation to remove two wisdom teeth led to her hospital stay, and revealed doctors feared for her mental wellbeing and put her on hold - a 5150 order - because they thought she was depressed. Barton claimed her angry refusal to be drip-fed anti-depressants prompted doctors to take serious action, and she has had to live with the embarrassment of her ordeal ever since.

She tells Tatler magazine, "I had this terrible surgery to remove my wisdom teeth and it drove me mad. I had infections and I couldn't eat anything except Slush Puppies for three months and I can't tell you how awful it was. Anyway, I'd had enough and I went to the hospital. I was in a lot of pain and if they feel you are depressed or a danger to yourself they can hold you on a 5150."

"I am terrified of needles and they wanted to pump me full of drugs and I said, 'No, absolutely not. I don't want to be here,' and got into a fight with the nurses, and that led to my 5150. Part of me wishes those things had never happened in the public eye. I wish I could have been perfect."

"For ages after that 5150 I'd walk down the street and people would give me the crazy eye: 'There's Mischa Barton, she's insane, isn't she?' "