Mackenzie Phillips Confesses To Sex With Her Dad
Posted by: Wendy Atterberry
Filed in:
celebs
8:20AM, Wednesday September 23rd 2009
Mackenzie Phillips, best known for her role on the ‘70s and ‘80s sitcom “One Day at a Time,” and for being the daughter of musician John Phillips from the legendary ‘60s band the Mamas and the Papas, will appear on “Oprah” today to discuss all kinds of family secrets shared in her new tell-all, High on Arrival, out today. Sure to be the biggest jaw-dropping secret of all is the confession that she had a long-term sexual relationship with her father that eventually became consensual! The first time her father had sex with her, she says, was the night before her wedding to Rolling Stones entourage member, Jeff Sessler, when she was 19.
“On the eve of my wedding, my father showed up, determined to stop it,” writes Phillips, who was a serious drug addict by then. “I had tons of pills, and Dad had tons of everything too. Eventually I passed out on Dad’s bed.”
“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.”
“Had this happened before? I didn’t know. All I can say is it was the first time I was aware of it.”
Not surprisingly, Phillips’ life spiraled out of control soon after this. She was fired from “One Day at a Time” the next year for her constant drug use and shortly after went to rehab — with her dad. She writes that by this time her incestuous relationship with him had become consensual. Gross!
“I was a fragment of a person, and my secret isolated me,” she writes.
“One night 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.’
“He was completely delusional. No, I thought, we’re going to hell for this.”
I’d say living with that kind of secret for the last 31 years is probably hell enough. [via MSNBC]
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Jenn27549
wrote on September 23 2009 @ 08:17 am: [report]
Call me old fashioned, but I kind of feel like this was majorly TMI. I’m fully aware how detrimental this would be to the individual, and therefore she should certainly have sought professional help and not kept this a true secret forever. But making it completely public? Hrm. I’m not sure I see the benefit to ANY of the parties involved, including herself and family. I can’t erase that from MY mind now. WOW. Just wow. That is certainly the most awful thing I’ve heard in a loooong time, but I feel like I shouldn’t have heard it at all.
Perceptible
wrote on September 23 2009 @ 08:18 am: [report]
Oh oh oh. Not okay. Sad and gross. Reading this post was enough. I can’t imagine reading the whole book!
PotteryGirl
wrote on September 23 2009 @ 08:23 am: [report]
My heart breaks for her. How awful.
But I have to be honest - I couldn’t finish reading the article. I’m with Jenn27549. I get that she needs to talk about it, but is this something you really want out in the public? That desperate for cash that this was the only way she could think of to make her book sell and get her name back in the public? If she really needs to talk to people about this, that’s what friends and therapy are for. I think Oprah, Maury, Sally Jessie and even to some extent Barbara Walters are to blame for this. Celebs need to keep some things to themselves. They share entirely too much.
Ginger
wrote on September 23 2009 @ 08:37 am: [report]
Most people do release this sort of thing in order to sell their books. I’m in full agreement that it’s kind of desperate and a bit of an over-share.
However, because of how we view celebrities in our culture, sometimes people who see them come out and talk about similar problems will go on to seek therapy for their own issues.
Mackenzie Phillips may not be the biggest name out there, but Oprah is. And maybe one of the viewers today will have a similar thing going an and say to themselves ‘I don’t want to do this anymore’ and get some help.
Joey Daytona
wrote on September 23 2009 @ 08:39 am: [report]
It explains a lot.
amandabear
wrote on September 23 2009 @ 08:41 am: [report]
I feel like I need to bleach my brain now.
dirtyboots
wrote on September 23 2009 @ 08:48 am: [report]
I’ll never listen to The Mamas and Papas in the same way again. What an awful thing to have to live through. My question is, where was her husband on the eve of her wedding? Why weren’t they blacking out and boning, why was her dad with her instead? That’s a little confusing.
*sam*
wrote on September 23 2009 @ 08:59 am: [report]
@dirtyboots: well, traditionally, the bride and groom aren’t supposed to see each other the night before the wedding—it’s bad luck. maybe that’s why he wasn’t around.
seriously though, this is a truly sad story and I hope she reveals that she’s already been to therapy for all of this, and if not, I hope she goes.
Wendy Atterberry
wrote on September 23 2009 @ 09:06 am: [report]
You know, this kind of bring up an interesting point, though: are there things that therapy simply cannot fix? Things that just eff you for life regardless how many hours of the day you spend spilling your guts to shrinks? If so, this would be one of those things, surely. And it would explain her life-long drug addiction (well, her entire adult life). I mean, you’d almost HAVE to be high to live with those sorts of memories.
retro chic
wrote on September 23 2009 @ 09:30 am: [report]
You know, her scumbag father didn’t even deserve the FIRST liver he received. They took out the wrong f**king organ.
@Joey: Explains *everything*
I Go To 11
wrote on September 23 2009 @ 09:31 am: [report]
Maybe by speaking out about this, it will help someone who’s in a similar situation realize, “You know, this isn’t right” and seek help. It’d be a silver lining, at least.
Based on what’s quoted above, it sounds like it was her dad that initiated it. What would possess a parent to think it’s okay to have sex with his/her own child? I just don’t understand people sometimes. :(
Pinky
wrote on September 23 2009 @ 01:21 pm: [report]
How very convienent she waited until Phillips is dead to “sell” her story since he can’t defend himself. She’s come out with these soul cleansing stories of drug abuse etc. in the past why was this not included prior ? Why wait until he was dead and could not defend himself. Sorry I don’t believe her.
writergirl
wrote on September 23 2009 @ 01:32 pm: [report]
@retro chic—agreed! My dad knew these guys somehow, so I’d heard these stories a long time ago. They never made secrets of them.
Jenn27549
wrote on September 23 2009 @ 03:36 pm: [report]
I think its def one of those things you never recover from no matter how much therapy you get. But you can learn to “live with it” but I still don’t see how making it public really helps anyone. Maybe she wants to explain away some of her bad behavior—but she could have done that more discreetly.
VocalVal
wrote on September 23 2009 @ 08:40 pm: [report]
I’m with Daytona. That explains her drug problems.
PotteryGirl
wrote on September 23 2009 @ 08:46 pm: [report]
I hate to say it and sound horribly jaded, but I’m with Pinky on this one. The timing is very odd, he’s dead and can’t speak out/agree with/disagree with/defend himself…it sounds like a ploy to sell books and get some publicity. WAY too convenient.