When it comes to home break-ins, Rachel Bilson has more experience than she would like — but she also has a lot of wisdom to share.
At a recent SimpliSafe launch event, the actress — who was burglarized by the infamous “Bling Ring” in the late 2000s and robbed at a rental house years later — explained that she was drawn to the home security company’s new monitoring service because she has “been through” exactly what it aims to avert.
“I’m a big, big believer in safety and I love that their whole mission is to prevent before it happens,” the O.C. alum, 43, told PEOPLE exclusively at the Oct. 15 event.
“And obviously, having been someone that has been through it, if I had that option then, I could have prevented five different break-ins,” she said with a laugh. “I’ve collected quite a few.”
Bilson also noted that she has taken home security especially seriously since welcoming daughter Briar Rose, whom she shares with ex Hayden Christensen.
“As a mom and living with my daughter, there’s nothing that I like better than feeling safe in our home,” she said.
In the years since her home was robbed, the Hart of Dixie star has done a lot of healing and developed a lot of empathy for her burglars — even inviting two “Bling Ring” members, Alexis and Gabrielle Neiers, on her podcast.
“They were kids, and I think it’s all about letting things go in life,” she told PEOPLE of the then-teens. “And empathy’s a big thing and you can’t hold onto things. And I lost a lot of things, but they were mainly — mostly — material things.”
“It was hard,” she admitted, “but also it’s just important in life, I think, to get that message across.”
When asked if her current perspective resembles how she felt immediately after the break-ins happened, Bilson responded with an immediate “no.”
“I was very young when it happened. It was kind of like, ‘Oh my God, that sucks,’” she recalled. “But I will say, as hard as I could have taken it, I think my mom has always taught me to not have such a connection to material possessions, so that helped.”
And though security is now top priority for the actress, she still keeps that lesson close to her heart — and passed it on to Briar Rose, who turns 10 later this month.
“The same thing goes for her,” Bilson said of her daughter. “If something goes missing or breaks, it’s important to kind of nurture the detachment from things like that.”
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In recent years, Bilson has been very open about her experience with the “Bling Ring,” who also broke into the homes of stars like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Orlando Bloom.
While appearing on podcast Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino in 2021, the actress admitted that “it was kind of crazy at the time” — and recalled one detail that felt particularly “invasive.”
“I guess they came into my house five different times and took everything,” she recalled. “And even one girl gave an interview, she was like, ‘I got so comfortable going in her house, I took a s— in her bathroom!’ And I was like, ‘That’s more invasive than stealing my purses.’ ”
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