Olivia Wilde Shares Kissing Confession About The O.C. Costars

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Olivia Wilde is looking back at where she started from.

While the O.C. alum reflected on her time on the iconic ‘00s series as Alex Kelly, she also got candid about who of her love interests on the show was a better kisser: Mischa Barton (Marissa Cooper) or Adam Brody (Seth Cohen).

“Misha was a great kisser,” Wilde admitted to host Alex Cooper on the June 17 episode of Call Her Daddy. “I remember she had really pretty lips.”

The 42-year-old also recalled being utterly taken with how “beautiful” Barton was, adding, “She has the most extraordinary face.”

“I know I had extreme imposter syndrome with that,” Wilde said. “I was like, ‘But she's such a pretty, pretty doll.’”

As for the kiss itself? She can hardly believe how simple it was—especially when compared to the types of romances seen between LGBTQ+ characters on TV today.

“I remember when Misha and I did the kiss, it was like Sweeps Week—which was a big deal and the ratings would spike,” she explained. “And for that show it was like an event. It was an event!”

“It was the most tame kiss,” Wilde laughed. “It’s a peck. It’s like a greeting.”

Despite the simplicity of the kiss, the Don’t Worry Darling star can understand why it felt like such a big deal at the time, especially for Barton’s character.

Paul Archuleta/Getty Images; Amy Sussman/Getty Images; Maya Dehlin Spach/WireImage

“I think it had a lot to do with the fact that her character had been kind of created as this idealized, gorgeous, ingénue, sweet, pure thing,” Wilde explained. “And the idea of queerness at the time was still relegated to, like, the quirky, weird kids.”

“It was not mainstream girls," she continued. "It was not that girl. It was never the popular, pretty [girl]. And the idea that this girl might be figuring out her sexuality, that was what people were really like, ‘Oh my god.’”

John Sciulli/WireImage for InStyle Magazine

And over 20 years later, Wilde is grateful for the role she and Barton played in helping destigmatize LGBTQ+ characters on screen.

“There were a lot of young people who saw that and started to ask themselves questions and have conversations with their parents,” she said. “And that's what I hear still to this day, which is amazing.”

For more surprising facts about The O.C., keep reading.

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