Mischa Barton
Mischa Barton claims her two former boyfriends are attempting to sell sex videos of her for $500,000 Mireya Acierto/Getty Images for New York Fashion Week: The Shows

British-American actress Mischa Barton has found herself embroiled in a major scandal involving sex videos that were reportedly taken without her consent. Reports that surfaced earlier this week claimed that a former boyfriend of the actress was attempting to sell the video along with her nude photos to porn websites.

In a statement released on 15 March, Barton said that she has been granted a restraining order against Adam Shaw and Jon Zacharias that will prevent them selling the footage.

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"This is a painful situation and my absolute worst fear was realised when I learned that someone that I thought I loved and trusted was filming my most intimate and private moments, without my consent, with hidden cameras," Barton said while at her attorney Lisa Bloom's office in Los Angeles. "And then I learned something even worse, that someone is trying to sell these videos and make them public."

Bloom called the disgusting conduct "revenge pornography", and said that it was "a form of sexual assault".

"I have a message for anyone who attempts to traffic in these photos or videos of Ms Barton: we will find you, and we will come after you. We will fully prosecute you under every available criminal and civil law. You proceed at your peril," the lawyer warned.

According to Gossip Cop, the two men were attempting to sell the material for $500,000 to porn companies. Barton, 31, informed that while she was dating Zacharias, he filmed her in the shower and during sex, using hidden cameras. Shaw, who later dated the actress, informed her of the existence of the footage that his friend Zacharias was boasting about being in his possession.

This scandal is the latest in a string of unfortunate events the actress has been facing of late. In January, her neighbours called the police after she was spotted speaking incoherently and acting erratically. She later claimed that someone had spiked her drink with a date rape drug the night before, when she was out celebrating her birthday with her friends.

"I voluntarily went to get professional help, and I was informed by their staff that I had been given GHB," she said of her hospital admittance the following day.