New Bombshell from Mackenzie Phillips

(CBS)  Mackenzie Phillips claims her rock legend father, John Phillips, might have impregnated her.

The former child star and daughter of the front man of the '60s super group The Mamas and the Papas discusses the possibility in her new memoir, "High on Arrival," and talked about it on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

Phillips, who starred for years in the sitcom "One Day at a Time," says she had an almost decade-long affair with her father, during which she became pregnant. She says she was also sleeping with her boyfriend at the time, and wasn't sure who the father was, so she had an abortion, which her father paid for, knowing the child could be his.

Her allegations have drawn heavy backlash from some family members.

Phillips says the affair started out as rape, then became something else.

"The word 'shocking' is appropriate!," Winfrey exclaimed to her.

On Winfrey's show, Phillips read a portion of her book that says, "I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father."

Then she added to Winfrey, "It became a consensual relationship."

"What struck me most about Mackenzie Phillips' interview," psychotherapist Robi Ludwig told CBS News "is that she's still protecting her father. By calling incest consensual incest, she's still protecting the person who abused her. ... But you can't say it's consensual, because there's always a power imbalance when it comes to a parent and child."

In the memoir, Phillips also claims her father began to romanticize their relationship, saying, "We were lying in bed, in a stupor, when Dad said, 'We could just run away to a country where no one would look down on us. There are countries where this is an accepted practice. Maybe Fiji?' My father was completely delusional."

Fellow former "One Day at a Time" co-star Valerie Bertinelli showed up on Winfrey's show in support of Phillips.

But John Phillips, who died in 2001 after a lifelong battle with drugs and alcohol, has his supporters.

In a statement to Us Weekly magazine, ex-wife Michelle Phillips, Mackenzie's stepmother, said, "You should take with a grain of salt anything that's said by a person who has had a needle stuck in their arm for 35 years. The whole story is disgusting."

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. She alleges John Phillips introduced her to cocaine.

But despite that reaction, Mackenzie Phillips ended the interview with Winfrey saying she's ready to move on, no matter how difficult that may be. "In finding redemption and freedom from myself," Phillips said, "maybe I'm gonna be giving a little piece of it to somebody else to hold onto."

In a statement to CBS News, Michelle Phillips added, "Whether her relationship with her father is delusional or not, it is an unfortunate circumstance and very hurtful for our entire family."

Mackenzie Phillips also told Winfrey she still loves her father, calling him a very tortured man who passed that torture down to her.

[dagrandma]

I believe every word of it.

[flacopsmom]

GOOD GOSH WHY WOULD SHE WANT TO LIE??? I realize she has done drugs for years. Just maybe that had alot to do with her drug use. I believe she is a victim. She told her half sister years ago. She stands beside her. Your father is suppose to protect you not molest you. Did any of John Phillips children say what a great dad he was?
Good luck to healing Mckenzie

[RetiredandBored]

Wouldn't she be able to put a lot of her family's doubts to rest if she took a lie detector test? I'm not saying it didn't happen, but that certainly would give validity to her allegations.

[Micky212]

I can't believe MAckenzie Phillips went to Narconon for drug rehab. No wonder she came out and came clean about her past! My cousin Clara was a hellion of a teen (like "True Romance", Tarantino kind of bad girl) and then finally did the Narconon program in Atlanta in 03 and has been clean ever since. But I will never forget when she came home clean at Christmas and told all of us about her struggles as a successful advertising exec, upscale and downscale hooker and junkie and that most of all she wanted us to know she did not sleep with our lesbian Aunt Martha for drug money! What a character. Maybe Narconon promotes talking about your past as a way to handle it. IT sure worked for Clara. I hope it does for Mackenzie too.

[mjlewis6]

Gee, from the Bible, Lot and his daughters!

Or even the first, Adam since Eve is made from his flesh, the rib, so that sexual relationship with one's own blood kin does not seem to be against the fundamental moral code.

Or Oedipus, who marries his own mother UNKNOWING, punishes himself since he had in fact as a younger man in self defense had killed his own father.

SEX is not exclusively for procreation, please. It is for the enjoyment of the partners, however many or as few that may be in any culture or of whatever composition people may desire.

Stay out of my tepee if you must run around with a moral ruler to measure everyone.

Phrenology has gone the way of most false science and the fall of ancient civilizations has less to do with sexual 'excesses' and more to do with misuse of power of death over citizens and peoples.

[billpl-2009]

my pop always said

"I don't know what I don't know, but do know what I do know"

I do know.

If it weren't for that story, she'd be lucky to sell 30 copies of that book.

[normhip]

I believe her. Why would anyone admit that their father was putting the blocks to them if it was not true. Obviously the gene pool within the Phillips clan is running pretty thin. mamas and the papas suck anyway. What about the threesome with Mick jagger! mama cass was really pretty. nice hair part on her. Too bad about the ham sandwich.

[SometimeIneedtoexpress]

The moneytary gain from such a sensationalied story would sell a lot
of books. I am just stating a gut feeling about this story, but should
it turn out that it is true - I wlll be the first to apologize.. There
is probably some truth about what she alleges, but is it worth the hurt
that this will bring to all her siblings..

[whitetaxpayer]

would someone please shut this bb.i..tch up please,,,,enough of this sickness stuf keeep it to your self I do not want to know your deep dark secrets go to a hospital and stay there. please shut up

[erccat]

I think what is most important here is that she is confronting her past and getting through it. I read her book and it is amazing she is alive. She got help through the Narconon program. I am also a graduate of this program from 7 years ago and see the miracles it has created. Good job Mackenzie, keep doing well.

[anti-global2]

she just got busted for coke, i think it was just last year.

[jt92202]

Her Step Sister has came out and said that she believes this is true.

http://www.usmagazine.com/celebritynews/news/chynna-phillips-2009239

As an adult that lived through child abuse as a 5 - 10 year old child I know that the person that you should believe is the victim not people around them. My Step Brothers molested me and my Father found out about 5 years ago, he had no idea all these years because I felt it would kill him to know that this happened to me. Even a teenager as she was is still a child in this situation and the guilt of what has been done to you will make you want to keep it quite forever. But by doing that it will ruin the rest of your life, it will eat at you and you will try to cover it up by any means, drugs, crime, mental instability..... Not all people but many will have major difficulties in their adult life if they don't deal with their feelings brought on by child molestation.

I understand it is hard to believe someone who has been in a drug induced life for over 35 years and how do they know what is real and what is made up in their heads. But you also have to look at why she was in this drug induced life, most likely it is the demons from her past that keep her high. Telling people and bringing this out into the open is the starting point of healing, I know because if I wouldn't have let my past come out I would have had a breakdown, in which I almost did until I started talking about it to my friends and husband. It's part of who I am now and I don't have any problem telling people, I didn't do anything wrong, my step brothers overstepped the boundries not me. Just as her father overstepped his boundries with his daughter!

I wish Mackenzie good luck in her healing process, it's a long road and a hard one. Don't blame the victim blame the abuser not only for the molestation but hooking his own child on drugs!!!

[anti-global2]

I honestly feel for you and wish you luck. If she is telling the truth you are right she is a victim, but if she is lying even the mental illness excuse is not sufficient when accusing your dad of rape.