Mischa Barton is speaking out for the first time about the emotional breakdown that sent her to a psychiatric hospital earlier this summer. The actress, who stars on The CW’s The Beautiful Life this fall , was held under an involuntary psychiatric hold at L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in July.

In an interview with Time Out New York, the 23-year-old actress denies that she has been abusing drugs or suffered a mental breakdown as previously reported. Instead, Mischa cites depression and a surgery on wisdom teeth that healed slowly for leaving her out of sorts.

“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 reveals.

“I was down in the dumps about everything there for a while,” she reveals. “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.”

Nonetheless, Mischa believes the severity of her ordeal has been blown out of proportion.

“The funny thing is, if all this happened in New York, no one would care,” she says. “New York lets you be who you are, and people aren’t as judgmental. I’m so glad to be back here.”

The former O.C. star — who was born in Britain and raised in New York — is currently back in the Big Apple for filming on her new CW show.