When it comes to shaping up Mischa Barton is nothing but serious. Currently in New York City to shoot the TV show The Beautiful Life, the actress has been hitting the downtown Equinox gym and even hiring a trainer.

“Mischa is really focused on getting into shape,” says a source with knowledge of the situation. Last month, the actress, 23, suffered a breakdown and spent several days in a psychiatric ward after police were called to her home in Los Angeles.

The focus on fitness might be just what Barton needed. “She has big self-esteem issues,” a source close to her told People last month. “She hates her legs. She isn’t comfortable with her body. It’s been a big source of stress and self-hate.”

Since relocating to New York City in late July, Barton has been trying to change that. “Mischa has been doing a lot of conditioning with weights as well as cardio on the treadmill, and some kickboxing,” says a source. “She’s been very consistent and she seems focused.”

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After being placed under involuntarily psychiatric hold earlier this month, Mischa Barton is back at work and doing “great,” her costars on The Beautiful Life tell People.

“We had our first read-through [Wednesday] and we’re all so very excited to have her back. She’s such a great girl,” costar Sara Paxton said at Model Home Project’s pre-launch celebration for The Power of WE at The Gates in New York on Wednesday.

“We really didn’t talk about everything that’s been going on. It was really all work,” Paxton adds.

Costar Ben Hollingsworth admits the cast was just as much in the dark about the specific reason behind Barton’s hospitalization as anyone else. “We were all worried about her. We didn’t really know what was going on, but she’s looking great. She’s feeling great and it’s just good to have her back,” he says. “We start shooting again on Friday and she’s ready to work. We’re all ready to jump into it and are very excited – even Mischa.”

Hollingsworth believes Barton’s new role may help her cope with all that’s been going on in her life.

“She’s gone through it more than anyone in the cast and her character in the show is very intertwined into that lifestyle. I think she’s going to be able to draw on a lot of real-life experiences that she’s had to go through with paparazzi, rumors, and invasion of privacy and all that comes in the public eye,” he says.

As for Hollingsworth’s role on the show: “My character is basically based on Ashton Kutcher (who created the show) and how he experienced life as a model coming to New York from Iowa.”

The Beautiful Life debuts on the CW in September.

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Mischa Barton is on schedule to return to the set of her CW show The Beautiful Life, People confirms.

The 23-year-old actress “will be resuming production as planned with the rest of the cast in NYC,” her rep tells People. “She’s back to business as usual.” The show is due to start filming Friday.

Barton was hospitalized July 15, but has been making improvements, her rep told People.

Ashton Kutcher, creator and producer of The Beautiful Life, recently talked about Barton at a technology conference in Pasadena, Calif. “I can tell you right now Mischa Barton is doing great,” Kutcher said, according to Reuters.

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Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher launch a “Save Mischa Barton” campaign!

The Kabbalah-following couple want to spearhead the recovery of the deeply troubled actress, who landed in a Los Angeles psychiatric unit after a bizarre meltdown.

“Demi and Ashton both feel Mischa has an incredible career ahead of her if she can free herself from her demons of poor self-esteem and substance abuse,” said a source.

The couple believes the teachings of Kabbalah – a type of Jewish mysticism – can help Mischa, the source said, adding that both Demi and Ashton generously reached out to Mischa’s family to offer their assistance.

Ashton feels particularly responsible for Mischa because he’s overseeing the production of her new series, The Beautiful Life in which she plays a hard partying aging model. Ash personally selected her for the role.

According to an insider, Ashton learned of Mischa’s sorry state when they filmed the pilot in Canada several months ago.

“Mischa was seen several times sobbing to a friend on her cell phone,” confided the insider.

After she was placed under involuntary psychiatric hold on July 15, Ashton and Demi stepped in.

“Demi told Ashton that they had to do something to help,” the source divulged.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

A week after she was placed under psychiatric hold, Mischa Barton is “still seeking treatment but making improvements,” says her rep Craig Schneider.

Schneider would not elaborate on Barton’s condition, but said that the actress, 23, plans to report to work on her new CW series The Beautiful Life later this month.

A rep for the show, which stars Barton as a struggling supermodel, tells Usmagazine.com shooting is slated to start July 31. (Entertainment Weekly quoted “multiple sources” Tuesday saying that producers “are quietly readying a Plan B” in light of the actress’ hospitalization.)

The hard-partying Barton was placed under involuntary psychiatric hold at L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center July 13.

“She’s going through a rough patch,” says Benji Kohn, producer of Barton’s new thriller Homecoming.

Director Morgan J. Freeman tells Us, “I hope Mischa is doing OK. My thoughts and prayers are with her.”

Source, Bauer-Griffin

Mischa Barton’s personal demons not only included a DUI arrest, relationship breakups and a hospitalization at a psychiatric ward – the actress also struggled with a fluctuating weight and body image.

“She has big self-esteem issues. … She hates her legs,” says a source close to Barton. “She isn’t comfortable with her body. It’s been a big source of stress and self-hate.”

Speculation about 23-year-old actress’s weight and nasty comments from tabloids and blogs also fueled insecurity.

“She had a big problem with those photos of her cellulite. … She didn’t like it,” says another source. “That just was something that contributed to her spiraling but she didn’t do much to fix it because of her partying.”

While another friend tells PEOPLE the photos upset the former O.C. star – “[She was] more pissed off than hurt and she complained a lot about that” – she didn’t let them get “to her too much. … I never saw her diet.”

But when photos showed a thinner Barton, she took to her blog and spoke out about the “crazy press,” telling fans that she’s “happier and healthier than ever so there’s no need to worry about me.”

“Just be happy and secure with yourself,” she wrote on her Web site. “Don’t let other people’s perceptions of you dictate the way you live your life.”

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