Mackenzie Phillips: I Slept With My Father

Former Child Star and Daughter of Rock Legend John Phillips Also Alleges He Got Her Started on Cocaine

(CBS)  Former child star Mackenzie Phillips alleges in a new book that she and her famous father, John Phillips of the 1960s super-group The Mamas and the Papas, had a sexual relationship, and that he introduced her to cocaine.

Mackenzie, 49, spoke about her tell-all memoir, "High on Arrival," in an episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" airing Wednesday, as the book hits store shelves.

Mackenzie has a long history of drug abuse, and pleaded guilty in 2008 to one count of felony cocaine possession and entered rehab. Her drug use led to her being dumped in 1982 by the hit sitcom "One Day at a Time," which aired from 1975-1983.

On "Oprah," Phillips spoke openly about the secret she'd been keeping for more than 31 years about the sexual relationship she claims she had with her father, beginning when she was in her late teens.

At one point, Phillips writes in "High on Arrival," "My father was not a man with boundaries. He was full of love, and he was sick with drugs. I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father."

John died in 2001 after a lifelong battle with drugs and alcohol.

Of cocaine, Mackenzie told Winfrey, "He put the needle in my arm and pushed the plunger in and he missed."

"Missed the vein?" Winfrey asked.

"Missed the vein," Mackenzie replied, "and my whole arm went numb, because it was cocaine."

But Mackenzie writes that she forgave her father when he was on his deathbed. "I would not be the woman I am, had I not been your daughter," she says she told him. "So, I want you to know that I forgive you, and I love you very, very much."

Some Phillips family members doubt that everything Mackenzie's saying about her late father is true, according to US Weekly Senior Editor Bradley Jacobs, who recounted for "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez an interview appearing in the magazine with Mackenzie's half-sister, sister Chynna Philips:


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[Matchpoint24]

Even if this IS true...which in no way do I believe a WORD out of this HAS-BEEN'S mouth...she should be in a therapist's office...not writing a book about this. He's dead and can't defend himself against her accusations and she is re-writing the history of his life! It's not fair. She waited TOO LONG to be taken seriously.
She's a complete wack job.

[shameonbush]

Mackenzie, if you read this, just know that there are so many of us that believe you. So many of us are so glad that you came out with this, as this will help many people who have lived this nightmare. You were nice to come out with this after his death. Perhaps he should have had to deal with this in public while he was alive, humiliate himself at least enough to reperate for some of his sins. You are a brave woman. Thank you for the book. Thank you. Our society is so blinded by our idle worship of celebrities, that, like OJ being cheered by fans as he ran from the cops after cutting his wife's head off. Like Michael Jackson and all the memorials, though he molested hundreds, perhaps thousands of little boys. Why doe our society blind themselves like this. In any case, I'm glad you wrote it, and I believe EVERY WORD.

[UnbelievableGARBAGE]

I hold Makenzie responsible for keeping the affair with her father going........with all that she has said about her book and her appearances, I DO NOT feel that she was a VICTIM!!!! She knew better. What a sad thing to do at this point in her life when her fathers rebuttel in 6 ft under and no one else to verify what happened!!!. Does she need the money? YES!! Does she crave the spotlight?? YES?? I don't believe anything she has to say.

[Annie1896]

Lots of stories from the past are being stirred up but the Early Show picks this one to promote? I just read Mackenzie's surely embellished tale, dramatized for book sales. What would be the need to go to Figi to pull off their, uh "lovemaking"? I read at a blog that CBS was supposed to air an interview with the authors of another new book I've read called "Goodbye Natalie Goodbye Splendour." Where's the interview? In this Wood book the facts are documented by a polygraph test. It's not just someone running around shows and making up stories. We finally learn about the long, lost, now apparently ignored details about the death of the ultra famous Natalie Wood, and instead we have Mackenzie everywhere telling her tale? Let's get some attention on the best book I've read in decades, and talk about why there was a shoddy investigation into Natalie Wood's tragic death. We babyboomers have been waiting three decades. Why was this story bumped? Please don't tell me for Mackenzie. Please don't.

[bullwinkle64]

The story should read " I slept with my Father" and a few thousand other men.

[TheVarsityClub]

Who cares. Another troubled television star that played to hard with drugs and had sex with anybody that would have her, now trying to flip the script in an effort to redeem her own self-asteem. Accept your addiction instead of trying to cast blame.

[Sodamary]

Who knows? It might be true. They were both pretty messed up at one time, and she did have a lot of access to drugs. Still, gotta wonder about the timing and all.

[NotPartyControlled]

What a sad and pathic woman to have drag this out just for a book sale.

[nirak2-2009]

Instead of going on Oprah, she should have gone to a Shrink.

[papasfan]

That was NOT child abuse. 17 is a consenting adult. All the drugs on this earth would not have made me sleep with my father! What about when you were 27 and seeing another man? You STILL had to seek him out and sleep with him? You are sick beyond comprehension. I for one will not buy your book. I think I would throw up while reading it.

[ibelieveiamright]

I suppose my question would be why now? like if she forgave him on his deathbed why would she feel the need to dredge up old past/ I doubt that it should matter now, close the chapter and carry on.

[Haywood_Jablomi]

Alright, I have to admit it. I had a homosexual love affair with my father for 10 years. Any ghostwriters out there want a job?

Damn, you mean you have to be famous to make any money off of it?

What about if I performed *********** on Mom? Can I write a magazine article at least? Can I get a check for that?

Hey Oprah, I'm broke! HELP!!!!

[rrozsa]

I saw parts of the interview, and I believe Mackenzie. I recall that never liked her as a teenager, but I am pleased to see how she has turned out as an adult despite all the mistakes she made and the lack of guidance from an allegedly mentally weak, sick father. Her mom's response (total denial) is classic. No woman ever wants to believe that her husband, the man she loved, was capable of such unspeakable behavior, especially without her knowledge.

[feb950]

I am sick and tired of this stuff being called "News". The National Enquirer has become a better source of "News" than the national news.
Why do you have to give people like Ms Phillips the attention. Let her get a job like everyone else and leave her DEAD Father alone.

[tfcrow]

Phillips new book will be called "One Lay at a time."

[formrusmcsgt]

McKenzie obviously has no problem humiliating herself publicly for money...

[HGOODGUY]

Has anybody ever thought that John Phillips was one sick phuck????

[mecanik-2009]

Sometimes there are things we just don't want to know about. I think this is one of them things that should have been kept to herself.

[pw08-2009]

Mackenzie is selling her soul to sell a book.

What a depraved person, but like so many other American women, willing to demonize and sell out a man instead of taking responsibility for not keeping her legs shut. "I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father..." what a nice way to place the blame elsewhere.

Yeah, if true, it's pretty sick that her father wanted to do that but where is he? That's right, he's dead and she's trying to make money and sell books...

Let this be a lesson to all of you younger guys..this is what you get with so many of our American women...No soul, self-serving and addicted to cell phones...no substance and boring overall.

[GetAGrip007]

Her father is not alive to defend himself. She must be totally broke to want to disclose this. The incest went on for TEN years- at what point is it consensual? Must she gross us all out? Yuk. If she donates every single penny the book makes to help sexually abused children then it has at least some redeeming value. Otherwise yuk yuk yuk