Mackenzie Phillips says she had sex with her dad

[samanthajane13]

NEW YORK – Mackenzie Phillips says she had a sexual relationship with her father, John Phillips, a member of the '60s Mamas and the Papas band.

People magazine says Phillips writes in her new book, "High on Arrival," that she had sex with her father on the night before she was to get married in 1979.

Phillips starred on TV's "One Day at a Time."

The magazine's Web site says Phillips writes: "I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090923/ap_en_ce/us_people_mackenzie_phillips

[One2Snoop]

:eek: Gross!

[samanthajane13]

Yeah-and VERY SAD.

[Marian Paroo]

Feh.

We have been talking about this on the other place I hang for some 24 hours!

Would love to join you all on it, but it is 23:30 here and I gotta hit the sack -- work tomorrow...

[samanthajane13]

Mackenzie Phillips says she had sex with her dad


CHICAGO – Former child star Mackenzie Phillips said Wednesday that she had a decade-long sexual relationship with her father, pop superstar John Phillips, who also taught her how to roll joints and injected her with cocaine.

Mackenzie Phillips, 49, writes in her new book, "High on Arrival," that she had sex with her father on the night before she was to get married in 1979 at age 19.

Phillips wrote in her book: "I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father." John Phillips, who died in 2001, was the leader of the 1960s group the Mamas and the Papas.

She told "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in an interview that aired Wednesday that her siblings "definitely have a problem with this." Winfrey also read a statement from Genevieve Waite, John Phillips' wife at the time of the alleged abuse and Mackenzie's stepmother. Waite's statement said John Phillips was "incapable, no matter how drunk or drugged he was, of having such a relationship with his own child."

Phillips, 49, who starred on TV's "One Day at a Time," said the sexual relationship with her father lasted a decade and ended when she became pregnant and didn't know who had fathered the child. She had an abortion, which her father paid for, and "and I never let him touch me again."

Phillips' mother is Susan Adams, the first of John Phillips' four wives. He was also married for eight years to "Mamas and Papas" singer and co-founder Michelle Phillips.

Phillips has long acknowledged having drug problems, and she told Winfrey that she first tried cocaine when she was 11 years old. Her father did drugs with her, taught her to roll joints and injected her with cocaine. Phillips said she's been clean for a year after pleading guilty to possessing cocaine and entering a drug treatment program.

She said she confronted her father in the early stages of the abuse, which she described as rape.

"My dad said, 'Raped you? Don't you mean when we made love?' And in that moment I thought, 'Wow, I'm really on my own here,'" Phillips said. She learned to turn her anger toward herself and "boxed it away" rather than think about the drug-fueled incest, she said.

Phillips said she doesn't hate her father, who died in 2001 of heart failure at the age of 65.

"I understand that he was a very tortured man and ... passed that torture down to me," she said.

Phillips said the sexual relationship, although she believes it eventually became consensual, was "an abuse of power" and "a betrayal" on her father's part. She said she forgave John Phillips on his deathbed.

"I can't be the only one this has happened to," Phillips said. "Someone needs to put a face on consensual incest." Her book was in the top 20 on Amazon.com as of Wednesday afternoon, but it wouldn't be the first popular book about consensual incest. In 1997, novelist Kathryn Harrison had a best-seller with "The Kiss," a memoir about her affair with her father.

John Phillips, who also had an acknowledged history of drug abuse, co-founded the Mamas and the Papas and helped write its biggest hits, including "California Dreamin'" and "Monday Monday." He also helped organize the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, which helped introduce Jimi Hendrix to American audiences.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090923/ap_en_ot/us_people_mackenzie_phillips

[samanthajane13]

Despite claims of incest, Phillips defends father
By FRAZIER MOORE, AP Television Writer Frazier Moore, Ap Television Writer – 2 hrs 19 mins ago

NEW YORK – Mackenzie Phillips is defending her father John Phillips as "a good man" despite her claims that they had an incestuous affair. But her stepmother Michelle Phillips says Phillips is lying about the affair and is just trying to cash in on her book.

The 49-year-old former child actress writes in her new book, "High on Arrival," that she had a decade-long sexual relationship with her father, and alleges they had sex on the night before she was to get married in 1979 at age 19.

She wrote in her book: "I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father." John Phillips, who died of heart failure in 2001, was the leader of the 1960s group the Mamas and the Papas.

Phillips, 49, who starred on TV's "One Day at a Time," said the sexual relationship with her father lasted a decade and ended when she became pregnant and didn't know who had fathered the child. She had an abortion, for which her father paid.

Interviewed on NBC's "Today" show Thursday, Phillips said it was "a very permissive time and a very rock 'n' roll world and pretty much anything went." Her father "did the best he could," she said.

Phillips, who said she first tried cocaine at age 11, said her father did drugs with her, taught her to roll joints and injected her with cocaine. Last October, Phillips pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to possessing cocaine and was ordered to complete an 18-month drug treatment program.

But her stepmother (and former Mamas and the Papas member) Michelle Phillips sharply differs with the sexual allegations.

"I have every reason to believe it's untrue," she told the Hollywood Reporter. "Mackenzie has a lot of mental illness. She's had a needle stuck up her arm for 35 years. She was arrested for heroin and coke just recently. She did 'Celebrity Rehab' and now she writes a book. The whole thing is timed."

Half-sister Chynna Phillips told US Weekly that Mackenzie Phillips told her about the sexual relationship in 1997.

"Do I believe that they had an incestuous relationship and that it went on for 10 years? Yes," Chynna Phillips said.

But Genevieve Waite, John Phillips' wife at the time of the alleged abuse and Mackenzie's stepmother, said in a statement, "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."

During her "Today" appearance, Phillips pronounced herself drug-free, and she characterized the skepticism with which her book has been received as typical for a family visited by incest.

"The instinct is to brush it under the table. The instinct is to protect the abuser," she said.

She characterized her book as a way to expose a problem that extends beyond the Phillips family, describing herself as "a voice for this large community of incest survivors that don't know where to go or what to do or how to talk about what happened in their lives."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090924/ap_en_tv/us_people_mackenzie_phillips

[samanthajane13]

Phillips hopes incest memoir can help others
By FRAZIER MOORE, AP Television Writer Frazier Moore, Ap Television Writer – 1 hr 54 mins ago

NEW YORK – "I am sharing my truth," says Mackenzie Phillips, "in the hope that it helps other incest survivors."

But just how true is her new book, "High on Arrival"? In this explosive new memoir, she defends her father, the Mamas and the Papas leader John Phillips, as a good man while claiming they had an incestuous affair that, over time, became consensual.

Two of her stepmothers, including Mamas and Papas singer Michelle Phillips, say she is lying and just trying to cash in with her book.

"I love my stepmother Michelle," Mackenzie Phillips responded in a statement Thursday, "but she is having the textbook family reaction to accusations of incest: deny that it happened and protect the accused."

The former child actress writes that she and her father had a decade-long sexual relationship that started while they were doing drugs the night before she was to get married in 1979 at age 19.

She wrote in her book: "I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father." Although she considered the first time rape, she says the sex eventually became consensual.

Phillips, 49, who as a teen starred on TV's "One Day at a Time," claims the sexual relationship lasted a decade and ended when she became pregnant and didn't know who had fathered the child. She had an abortion, and her father paid for it.

She claims she first tried cocaine at age 11, and that her father did drugs with her, taught her to roll joints and injected her with cocaine. Last October, Phillips pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to possessing cocaine and was ordered to complete an 18-month drug treatment program.

Interviewed on NBC's "Today" show Thursday, Phillips said she grew up in "a very permissive time and a very rock 'n' roll world, and pretty much anything went."

Her father "did the best he could," she said. "He was a good man. I have great compassion for the man that he was."

The truth of Mackenzie Phillips' account can never be fully known. Her father died of heart failure in 2001.

But publishers have acknowledged they rarely fact-check memoirs, relying instead on legal review to ensure against libel. Although memoirs, the most subjective of literary genres, are often disputed, publishers rarely withdraw or alter a book unless confronted with documented evidence of inaccuracy.

Ironically, Phillips' book, published by Simon & Schuster, includes a blurb from memoirist Augusten Burroughs, whose "Running With Scissors" led to a defamation lawsuit by a family Burroughs lived with as a child. The suit was settled in 2007; Burroughs and publisher St. Martin's Press agreed to call the work a "book" instead of "memoirs."

Now Burroughs hails Phillips' book as "rich with compassion, forgiveness, and wisdom ... a brave memoir executed with an unwavering loyalty and commitment to truth."

Half-sister Chynna Phillips says she believes the accusation. She told US Weekly that Mackenzie Phillips told her of the sexual relationship in 1997.

"Do I believe that they had an incestuous relationship and that it went on for 10 years? Yes," Chynna Phillips said.

But Genevieve Waite, John Phillips' wife during a portion of the alleged affair, said in a statement, "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."

John Phillips was married four times. His first wife, Susan Adams, is Mackenzie Phillips' mother.

Stepmother Michelle Phillips sharply disputes the allegations of incest.

"I have every reason to believe it's untrue," she told the Hollywood Reporter.

Michelle Phillips is the only living member of the Mamas and the Papas. Enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the group is remembered for hits like "California Dreamin'" and "Monday, Monday." But its tempestuous and troubled history is also well known.

The quartet broke up in 1968 after the divorce of Michelle and John, reunited three years later and disbanded again in 1974 when Cass Elliott died of a heart attack. As an adult, Mackenzie Phillips performed with her father in the 1980s in a different version of the group. Denny Doherty, the fourth original member, died in 2007.

"Mackenzie has a lot of mental illness," Michelle Phillips said. "She's had a needle stuck up her arm for 35 years. She was arrested for heroin and coke just recently. She did 'Celebrity Rehab' and now she writes a book. The whole thing is timed."

___

AP National Writer Hillel Italie and Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090924/ap_en_ot/us_people_mackenzie_phillips