Mackenzie's 'Shocking Revelation' on Oprah Wed, Sept 23

[ontheroof]

Former "One Day At A Time" child TV star Mackenzie Phillips is going public for the first time with a bombshell of a family secret she says she's been living with for the past 31 years. What she reveals in her new memoir, "High On Arrival," is so shocking that it's been embargoed - literally under lock and key - until today. Plus, hear revealing stories of her father, rock legend John Phillips of "The Mamas & The Papas," Mick Jagger and her recent heroin and cocaine bust. Don't miss the family secret so explosive, it will stop you in your tracks...on Wednesday's Oprah.

This episode has already been filmed, and apparently Mackenzie reveals that she had an adult sexual relationship with her father.

[catlover79]

:eek2: I'm going to have to watch this one - and I'm not an Oprah viewer!

[Brian Damage]

"Don't hate my father," Mackenzie Phillips tells PEOPLE.

But in a tell-all book out Wednesday, the former childhood actress reveals that her dad, musician John Phillips of the '60s band the Mamas and the Papas, engaged with her in a long-term incestuous relationship.

Phillips, 49, who has survived drug addiction, arrests and divorce, writes in the book High on Arrival that she was already a star playing a boy-crazy teen on the TV sitcom One Day at a Time when her father had sex with her on the night before she was to marry Jeff Sessler, a member of the Rolling Stones entourage, in 1979.

"On the eve of my wedding, my father showed up, determined to stop it," writes Phillips, who was 19 and a heavy drug user at the time. "I had tons of pills, and Dad had tons of everything too. Eventually I passed out on Dad's bed."

[Marvo301]

:eek: She has sure had one crazy life!!:crazy:

[Big C]

Yikes!

[catlover79]

:eek: She has sure had one crazy life!!:crazy:
It's a miracle she's lived to tell about it!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Marvo301]

It's a miracle she's lived to tell about it!! :eek: :eek: :eek:
It sure is!!!:eek::crazy:

[Schmoopie]

Ugh... how awful! She's very brave for revealing this on TV.

[Shine]

I feel bad for MacKenzie. :( Her father was one sick and perverted man who additced his own child to drugs and raped her. What sort of scumbag was John Phiilips anyway? :mad:

Mackenzie is a true survivor and I look forward to reading her book.

[catlover79]

I feel bad for MacKenzie. :( Her father was one sick and perverted man who additced his own child to drugs and raped her. What sort of scumbag was John Phiilips anyway? :mad:

Mackenzie is a true survivor and I look forward to reading her book.
John Phillips was a very talented musician and songwriter, but all the drugs definitely fried his brain. He has several other children (including Chynna of Wilson Phillips) who seem to have turned out OK. (But then Chynna was mainly raised by her mother, Michelle). Mac has endured so much and is truly a survivor. I just hope it all gets better from here.

[browneyes106]

I only watched bits and pieces of Oprah. I do feel for MacKenzie. I do hope she stays sober. I do like her as an actress. I liked her as the mom on So Weird.

[catlover79]

I only watched bits and pieces of Oprah. I do feel for MacKenzie. I do hope she stays sober. I do like her as an actress. I liked her as the mom on So Weird.
She also played Annie's sister in a very funny episode of Caroline in the City. :cool:

[Retro4Life]

Incredible. I cannot imagine the kind of damage this type of thing does to a psyche.

I agree with everyone else in wishing Mackenzie all the best. She's never seemed like a "bad" person, just misguided and lost and has been her own worst enemy.

I loved her as "Julie" and hope she can find more work in the future; but more importantly, that she finds peace and happiness very soon.

[catlover79]

Incredible. I cannot imagine the kind of damage this type of thing does to a psyche.

I agree with everyone else in wishing Mackenzie all the best. She's never seemed like a "bad" person, just misguided and lost and has been her own worst enemy.

I loved her as "Julie" and hope she can find more work in the future; but more importantly, that she finds peace and happiness very soon.
That's my feeling exactly. In every interview I've ever seen Mac in she always seems very sweet, gentle and gracious. Sadly she inherited her father's demons and I hope at some point she can conquer them for good.

[Marvo301]

I saw the second half of Oprah (I forgot Mac was on today so I missed the first half) and I have to say I greatly admire Mackenzie for her courage in airing all her dirty laundry in this very public forum. I also admire her desire to use her story to bring hope to other incest and abuse victims. I wish Mac health, hapiness, and peace in her life!

[Marvo301]

I forgot to mention earlier that near the end of the show there was a touching and emotional reunion between Mac and her TV sister Val Bertinelli. They embraced each other and later expressed their respect and admiration for each other. And they held hands the entire time Oprah was interviewing them. It brought tears to my eyes.

[littlebelle]

I give props to Mackenzie for having the courage to relive this nightmare on live television, the oprah show nevertheless. It was so heartwarming when Valerie came on at the end. I'm glad Mac has survived the crazy life she lived.

[Retro4Life]

I forgot to mention earlier that near the end of the show there was a touching and emotional reunion between Mac and her TV sister Val Bertinelli. They embraced each other and later expressed their respect and admiration for each other. And they held hands the entire time Oprah was interviewing them. It brought tears to my eyes.

:cool: That sounds like a great moment, Marv.

[LittleRickyII]

:cool: That sounds like a great moment, Marv.

It was a great moment. Mac didn't know Valerie was there, and Valerie didn't know Mac's secret until watching it live from backstage. When Valerie finally came out towards the end of the show, Mac was completely surprised and clearly very appreciative. They were both awash in tears the second they saw one another. Valerie seemed to feel guilty for not completely "being there" and knowing what Mac was going through all those years. But Mac was assuring her she had been the best friend she could have been. Those two clearly care a great deal for one another.

[sunshinefizzy]

That was a great interview with Oprah yesterday. Like a lot of you already said she's been through a ton of crap. I saw an interview with her on E!THS of rock star daughters and she said when she was in boarding school in Europe she went to school high on acid everyday for months. She said it was all drugs she stole from her dad. It truly is a miracle she's still alive.

[ThomasE]

That was an intense revelation. I saw Mac on the latter portion of the "Today" show this morning in New York. I wanted to meet her. I just love her. John looked cool but was apparentely a filthy man. Whew!

[HuntingtonM15]

It's hard to believe the life she's lead. What a brave, strong woman. She is a true survivor. I met her almost 7 years ago, and she was so incredibly sweet. It was as if I had known her for years.

[catlover79]

^ That's so cool, Michael. Thank you for posting that.

[platinumblondelife]

It was a good interview, but something about the way Oprah was asking the questions rubbed me the wrong way.

[littlebelle]

It was a good interview, but something about the way Oprah was asking the questions rubbed me the wrong way.


Me too... Mackenzie was getting hella uncomfortable and Oprah needed to back off a bit.

[Marvo301]

Me too... Mackenzie was getting hella uncomfortable and Oprah needed to back off a bit.
It seemed to me that Oprah didn't have any compassion towards Mackenzie (or any other emotion for that matter) which is strange since she claims to be an abuse survivor herself.

[littlebelle]

It seemed to me that Oprah didn't have any compassion towards Mackenzie (or any other emotion for that matter) which is strange since she claims to be an abuse survivor herself.

Exactly! it's as if she just wanted to get all the facts out of her and not give her any love or support. The only good thing she did that whole episode was to invite Valerie.

[catlover79]

Exactly! it's as if she just wanted to get all the facts out of her and not give her any love or support. The only good thing she did that whole episode was to invite Valerie.
:yeahthat

[Pus$y Galore]

It seemed to me that Oprah didn't have any compassion towards Mackenzie (or any other emotion for that matter) which is strange since she claims to be an abuse survivor herself.


That hit me too. She's been so compassionate with others - why not Mac?
It was as if she was almost judging her too. I believe every word she said and now her life's problems make total sense to me.

I heard both her stepsisters believe her. Michelle Phillips can just shut up about the drug addict thing - what, all drug addicts lie? Ridiculous!

[catlover79]

That hit me too. She's been so compassionate with others - why not Mac?
It was as if she was almost judging her too. I believe every word she said and now her life's problems make total sense to me.

I heard both her stepsisters believe her. Michelle Phillips can just shut up about the drug addict thing - what, all drug addicts lie? Ridiculous!
Actually, Chynna (best known for being 1/3 of Wilson Phillips) and Bijou are Mac's half-sisters, as they are both also John's daughters. John also had a son with his first wife, I believe. I'm surprised by Michelle's attitude - I thought that she would be supportive of Mac.

[Pus$y Galore]

Actually, Chynna (best known for being 1/3 of Wilson Phillips) and Bijou are Mac's half-sisters, as they are both also John's daughters. John also had a son with his first wife, I believe. I'm surprised by Michelle's attitude - I thought that she would be supportive of Mac.


oh yah - sorry, I meant half-sisters. Michelle I knew wouldn't openly support Mac and would lie about it because really, it makes her look bad too. Afterall, she was married to John while this was still going on (not the entire time or at the beginning, but certainly mid to end). Mac might not have been a minor at the time, but man, unless I was totally addled by drugs (which Michelle also was at the time) I think I might say something if my husband was doing his daughter (not to mention puking my guts out). So Michelle is one to talk - she too was a drug addict. Just because Mac has had more setbacks doesn't make her any worse or a liar. Who knows - Michelle might have been in the same bed at the time. Mac mentioned that a stepmom was, but don't think she named names (at least on Oprah).

[HuntingtonM15]

It seemed to me that Oprah didn't have any compassion towards Mackenzie (or any other emotion for that matter) which is strange since she claims to be an abuse survivor herself.

I often find Oprah to be a big phony. Like when Cher was on discussing her farewell tour before the tour had started, Oprah randomly put on a clip of Cher giving the eulogy at Sonny's funeral. She didn't do it for any good reason, and apparently Cher broke down and had to leave the set for close to an hour. Of course none of that was mentioned on the actual show.

[Retro4Life]

I often find Oprah to be a big phony. Like when Cher was on discussing her farewell tour before the tour had started, Oprah randomly put on a clip of Cher giving the eulogy at Sonny's funeral. She didn't do it for any good reason, and apparently Cher broke down and had to leave the set for close to an hour. Of course none of that was mentioned on the actual show.

Thank God someone is willing to buck the "cult of Oprah" that seems to have seized the country.

I agree. While I'm sure the woman has done a lot of good, this notion that she is infallible and cannot be questioned upon penalty of banishment is very galling to me. She's always careful to promote herself while she's "lifting up" everyone else.ohno:

[catlover79]

oh yah - sorry, I meant half-sisters. Michelle I knew wouldn't openly support Mac and would lie about it because really, it makes her look bad too. Afterall, she was married to John while this was still going on (not the entire time or at the beginning, but certainly mid to end). Mac might not have been a minor at the time, but man, unless I was totally addled by drugs (which Michelle also was at the time) I think I might say something if my husband was doing his daughter (not to mention puking my guts out). So Michelle is one to talk - she too was a drug addict. Just because Mac has had more setbacks doesn't make her any worse or a liar. Who knows - Michelle might have been in the same bed at the time. Mac mentioned that a stepmom was, but don't think she named names (at least on Oprah).
I REALLY hope it wasn't Michelle, because she divorced John in 1970, when Mac was just barely 11. Of course, John and Michelle still had trysts from time to time, when he was married to his third wife (according to BOTH John and Michelle's memoirs) Genevieve Waite. He was married to Genevieve Waite from 1971-85, and the two of them had a son and daughter (Bijou) together.

[catlover79]

Mackenzie Phillips' Family Split Over Star's Incest Claims

By JOYCE ENG
TV GUIDE

http://www.seattlepi.com/tvguide/410465_tvgif23.html

Mackenzie Phillips' family members are split over the veracity of her claims that she and her father, the late John Phillips, had an incestuous relationship.

"I knew it was true," Mackenzie's half-sister Chynna Phillips told Us Weekly. "I mean, who in their right mind would make such a claim if it wasn't true?"

"They were both doing drugs together. After long nights of heroin use, she's claiming that she once woke up and that my father was on top of her having sex with her," Chynna said. "Was he actually raping her? I don't know. Do I believe that they had an incestuous relationship and that it went on for 10 years? Yes."

Michelle Phillips, John's second wife and Chynna's mother, says she has "every reason to believe [Mackenzie's account is] untrue."

"She told me, then she called me back and said, 'You know I'm joking,'" Michelle Phillips told The Hollywood Reporter, adding that Mackenzie told her entire family in 1997. "I said it wasn't funny. Mackenzie said, 'I guess we have different senses of humor.'"

Michelle acknowledges that John was a bad parent and a drug addict. "But f--- his daughter? If she thinks it's true, why isn't she with a good psychiatrist on a couch? I think it's unconscionable that Oprah would let her do her show," she said, referring to Mackenzie's Wednesday sit-down with the talk show host.

Mackenzie has "a lot of mental illness," Michelle said, adding that she believes the actress timed the release of her book to steal thunder away from Chynna's new album. "Mackenzie is jealous of her siblings, who have accomplished a lot and did not become drug addicts."

"I am stunned by Mackenzie's terrible allegations about her father," Genevieve Waite Phillips, John's third wife, said in a statement. "I would often complain to John about her overly familiar attitude towards him, and he would tell me that that was just her way. John was a good man who had the disease of alcoholism and drug addiction. He was incapable, no matter how drunk or drugged he was, of having such a relationship with his own child."

Tamerlane Phillips, John and Genevieve's son, did not say if he believes the actress' claims or not, but noted his family's troubled history.

"My family is and always will be a decrepit bowl of dog urine compared to Nityananda of Ganeshpuri," Tamerlane told the New York Post. "That is how great Nityananda is." The Indian yogi died in 1961. "Worship Nityananda, not the Phillips family. Nityananda can protect you."

In her new memoir, High on Arrival, Mackenzie details an incestuous affair between her and John, who fronted the 1960s group The Mamas and the Papas. Mackenzie says in Arrival that she first remembered having sex with her father on the eve of her wedding to Jeff Sessler when she was 19. She says she passed out from doing drugs and woke up to find John having sex with her.

Mackenzie Phillips, 49, was born to John Phillips and his first wife, Susan Adams, in 1959. Mackenzie has a brother, Jeffrey, and three half-siblings: Chynna Phillips, John's daughter with Michelle Phillips; and model-actress Bijou Phillips and half-brother Tamerlane, whose mother is Genevieve Waite.

[catlover79]

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20308234,00.html

Mackenzie Phillips's Sisters Speak Out About Incest Claim
By Hilary Shenfeld

Her sisters are upset, her stepmother calls her a liar, but Mackenzie Phillips isn't backing down from revelations that she had a long-term sexual relationship with her father – and hopes she can be the public face of an issue that she says gets little of the attention it deserves.

"If I've started a national dialogue that's going to help people face these issues, then I'm forever grateful," Phillips, 49, said Friday via satellite during a live broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

The former One Day at a Time star, who revealed her shocking family secret in a new memoir, High on Arrival, appeared for the second time this week on Oprah, this time to face doubts from within her own family about her relationship with her father, the founder of the 60s band The Mamas and the Papas.

'Untrue'

On Friday's show, Winfrey read comments made by John's former wife, Michelle, also a member of the band and Mackenzie's stepmother. "I have every reason to believe it's untrue," Michelle Phillips said, adding that Mackenzie has a history of mental illness and drug abuse.

Mackenzie didn't take the accusation sitting down, although she did admit to a long history of drug use. "When Michelle found out I was writing the book, she vowed to do everything she could to discredit me ... She's either protecting the Mamas and Papas brand or is having a textbook reaction: She's embarrassed, sweep it under the carpet, protect the abuser," Phillips told Winfrey. "It seems so unkind and ungenerous to lash out in this way."

Angry Reaction

Mackenzie's half-sister, Chynna Phillips, appeared live with Winfrey and explained that her mother, Michelle, is angry. "It's not something that my mom wants plastered all over the papers," she said.

Chynna, 41, admitted that she, too, shared some of that sentiment. "Am I exceedingly joyful that my family secret that I told maybe my therapist, my husband and my very best friend in the whole word [is now public]? No."

Coming Clean

Nevertheless, she said, she has known about the situation for 12 years and, while she wasn't certain that her sister could be entirely accurate about the details, believed that the two were sexually involved for a decade. "I was completely stunned," she said when Mackenzie shared the secret. "I walked around in a comatose state for about 10 days."

Another sibling, Bijou Phillips, has released the following statement: "When I was 13, Mackenzie told me that she had a consensual sexual relationship with our father. This news was confusing and scary, as I lived alone with my father since I was 3, I didn’t know what to believe and it didn’t help that shortly there after Mackenzie told me it didn't happen .... "

"I understand Mackenzie's need to come clean with a history she feels will help others, but it's devastating to have the world watch as we try and mend broken fences, especially when the man in question isn't here to defend himself."

[Pitooey]

Now I can't hear the music without thinking of this incest crap.

I heard "California dreaming" in the Mall today. Before..... I would get all mellowed out listening to the Mamas and the Papas (I love this group). Today however all I thought of was MacKenzie and her ugly face. :thumbsdow

Don't get me wrong if it happened (incest) it happened....... :(

[70s show watcher]

Thank God someone is willing to buck the "cult of Oprah" that seems to have seized the country.

I agree. While I'm sure the woman has done a lot of good, this notion that she is infallible and cannot be questioned upon penalty of banishment is very galling to me. She's always careful to promote herself while she's "lifting up" everyone else.ohno:i think oprah is a big phony too and always have

[Marvo301]

Thank God someone is willing to buck the "cult of Oprah" that seems to have seized the country.

I agree. While I'm sure the woman has done a lot of good, this notion that she is infallible and cannot be questioned upon penalty of banishment is very galling to me. She's always careful to promote herself while she's "lifting up" everyone else.ohno:
I'm sure every move Oprah makes is very calculated. She makes it appear she is helping people while at the same making sure the business of Oprah is rolling along at full speed. If people really think Oprah has all the answers they're kidding themselves. What Oprah is really selling is an illusion. An illusion that continues to deposit copious amounts of money into Oprah's bank account. She's really just another televangelist. Only she's preaching a different gospel.

[LittleRickyII]

[url]"When Michelle found out I was writing the book, she vowed to do everything she could to discredit me ... She's either protecting the Mamas and Papas brand or is having a textbook reaction

This is exactly what I thought was behind Michelle's reaction. I believe I made this very comment earlier in this (or another) thread. Michelle's worried some of those Mamas and Papas royalties she's been getting all these years might dry up a bit if disgusted fans walk away from their music. And Pitooey's reaction illustrates this quite well:

Now I can't hear the music without thinking of this incest crap.

I heard "California dreaming" in the Mall today. Before..... I would get all mellowed out listening to the Mamas and the Papas (I love this group). Today however all I thought of was MacKenzie and her ugly face. :thumbsdow

Don't get me wrong if it happened (incest) it happened....... :(

[catlover79]

This is exactly what I thought was behind Michelle's reaction. I believe I made this very comment earlier in this (or another) thread. Michelle's worried some of those Mamas and Papas royalties she's been getting all these years might dry up a bit if disgusted fans walk away from their music. And Pitooey's reaction illustrates this quite well:
As the only surviving member of the group (as well as co-writer on some of their songs), I can't blame her if that is indeed the case.