KEY POINTS:
Mischa Barton is proud of her curves despite recent photos showing visible signs of cellulite.
Barton's rep is speaking out on behalf of the actress, saying the photos, taken while she was on holiday in Australia, have been photoshopped.
See the photos in question here.
"Those photos are doctored," Barton's rep told the New York Daily News.
"I'm not saying she's perfect, nobody is. But they've given a 22-year-old woman the legs and bottom of an 80-year-old.
"Look at the shots that were taken shortly before on a beach in LA. Did she develop all that cellulite in a couple of weeks? There's a lot you can do with Photoshopping..."
Last week the actress herself lashed out at Australian photographer Jamie Fawcett who took the photos, including some of her sunbathing topless.
"He's a ridiculous human being," Barton told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"I've never abhorred anyone more. I was so angry I went up to him and said how disappointed I was with his behaviour. He apologised but he was very insincere.
"We went out from Hamilton to a tiny island to relax in the sun and all of a sudden Jamie Fawcett jumped out of a bush with a massive camera lens and took photos of me," she said. "He'd followed us in a boat!"
Meanwhile the actress says as long as her rocker boyfriend Taylor Locke likes her body, she is happy.
"I have a woman's body," She told America's OK! Magazine.
"I have hips and boobs so when I gain any weight it goes straight there, which I don't mind because it gives me curves. But it goes straight there.
"I get a womanly body. But otherwise if I'm being really skinny and eating less and working out more, I get more of a boyish figure. But I like my curves. I like having them. My boyfriend loves them! So whatever works!"
The former O.C. star who was born in Britain but raised in the US also insists she has no body worries and does her best to stay healthy.
"I'm not self conscious about my body. I eat really healthily and I work out. Everybody has things that they are conscious of that they don't like but, like any girl, I talk about this with my girlfriends all the time.
"We work out and we eat healthy and we do what we do, I feel very comfortable. I come from a European family that's always very comfortable with their bodies. You are what you are as a woman."
Photographer Jamie Fawcett told the New York Daily News says he wasn't out to embarrass her.
"I wouldn't seek to publicly embarrass her with nudity or health issues or body image issues. It is a shame that publications tend to highlight an issue that is not fair to a young girl. ... However, sometimes these are the things that sell pictures."
- BANG SHOWBIZ, NZHERALD STAFF