# Mackenze Phillips Slept with Father John Phillips **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2009, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225 "2009-09-23T13:07:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/1 "2009-09-23T13:07:39Z")
[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/23/earlyshow/leisure/celebspot/main5331219.shtml](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/23/earlyshow/leisure/celebspot/main5331219.shtml) She’s written a tell all book saying…well, quite a lot. > [@](#): > > 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.” Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/2 "2009-09-23T13:37:52Z")
From the title I honestly thought you meant she’d slept with a Catholic priest, Father John Phillips. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/3 "2009-09-23T13:54:58Z")
Shouldn’t the title say that she slept with Papa John Phillips? This is a crazy story and I hope she’s not dragging the poor man’s name through the mud just to make a buck. Well, obviously that’s why she’s doing it, but hopefully she’s not making shit up to sell books. Sad story, if true. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/4 "2009-09-23T13:56:13Z")
I saw on an ET preview she’d be discussing this so I watched last night. I guess I believe her but as she waits until after his death to make the claim there’s always the glimmer of doubt. Tonite they’re going to air parts of an interview the two of them gave when this was supposedly going on. Last night she also made the claim of having had sex with Mick Jagger. She said Mick told her “I’ve been looking forward to this since you were 10.” ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/5 "2009-09-23T14:03:31Z")
Well unless the Sister is also lying it’s been out in the family since 1997 > [@](#): > > Chynna, 41, tells Us Weekly she remembers getting the call from Mackenzie, 49, in 1997 — 11 years after the affair had ended — while she was between flights at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. > > “She said, ‘I don’t know why, but I just really felt the need to call you and tell you something that I think you need to know,’” Chynna tells Us Weekly. “And she went on to tell me that she had had an incestuous relationship with our dad for about 10 years.” > **[Latest Celebrity and Entertainment News - Us Weekly](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/)** > > Get the latest celebrity news and entertainment news with exclusive stories, interviews and pictures from Us Weekly Doesn’t get much more fucked up than that. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/6 "2009-09-23T14:48:19Z")
I believe it. “The poor man” and she sat there and did drugs together by the hour, day after day. He was one sick bastard. None of this is really news. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/7 "2009-09-23T14:50:19Z")
He treated Michelle pretty shitty. I can’t find it in myself to think he’d treat his daughter any better. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/8 "2009-09-23T15:06:02Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > I saw on an ET preview she’d be discussing this so I watched last night. I guess I believe her but as she waits until after his death to make the claim there’s always the glimmer of doubt. Tonite they’re going to air parts of an interview the two of them gave when this was supposedly going on. > > Last night she also made the claim of having had sex with Mick Jagger. She said Mick told her “I’ve been looking forward to this since you were 10.” She told the story about Mick Jagger years ago on Howard Stern. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/9 "2009-09-23T15:13:59Z")
I’m curious how her sisters will react, and if they were also molested (‘waking up’ to sex? How quaint. Apparently she confronted him about raping her and his response was, ‘You mean when we made love?’). Bijou at least seems like she has major demons, beyond those of a celebrity’s kid and a former model. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/10 "2009-09-23T15:39:37Z")
> [@Cat\_Fight](#): > > I’m curious how her sisters will react, and if they were also molested (‘waking up’ to sex? How quaint. Apparently she confronted him about raping her and his response was, ‘You mean when we made love?’). Bijou at least seems like she has major demons, beyond those of a celebrity’s kid and a former model. Yes, Chynna really does appear to be the best-adjusted sister in that family. I wonder if the fact that she didn’t become famous in her own right (and then only briefly) until she was in her mid-20s has anything to do with that? Mackenzie was a child star (okay, a teen star, but still…) and Bijou…okay, I have no explanation for Bijou. Not any normal one, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/11 "2009-09-23T15:54:03Z")
C’mon, it’s not like it’s some sort of crime to shoot up with and ‘make love to’ your daughter! I thought this was America, man… ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/12 "2009-09-23T15:56:14Z")
What a good man he was. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/13 "2009-09-23T16:05:10Z")
> [@bup](#): > > What a good man he was. Yeah. I’ve felt that Phillips was a user and a cad for a long time now, since I read about the history of the Mamas & the Papas. Basically forcing your wife and former best friend to sing about their short-lived affair (“I Saw Her Again”) is one of those acts that is ALMOST understandable but shakes out to be really petty\*. (The men of ABBA did the same kind of thing, writing quite a few songs where women were on the downside of the wheel (and, in the songs, deservedly so) and making Agnetha and Frida sing them, while the two marriages were breaking up) \*And, of course, that’s not even mentioning abandoning his first wife for Michelle, which apparently wasn’t the first time that happened (although not previously as permanently), either. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/14 "2009-09-23T16:11:30Z")
It’s unusual for molestation to begin at 19 and carry forward into adulthood, isn’t it? In most cases, someone who molests his daughter begins in childhood or the early teens, right? People’s [article](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20307481,00.html) includes this telling quote: “Had this happened before? I didn’t know. All I can say is it was the first time I was aware of it.” It wouldn’t surprise me if he had started molesting her much earlier, and she just has repressed the memory. This may be what pushed her into drugs in her teens in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/15 "2009-09-23T17:19:21Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Yeah. I’ve felt that Phillips was a user and a cad for a long time now, since I read about the history of the Mamas & the Papas. Basically forcing your wife and former best friend to sing about their short-lived affair (“I Saw Her Again”) is one of those acts that is ALMOST understandable but shakes out to be really petty\*. (The men of ABBA did the same kind of thing, writing quite a few songs where women were on the downside of the wheel (and, in the songs, deservedly so) and making Agnetha and Frida sing them, while the two marriages were breaking up) Didn’t Lindsay Buckhingham do that with “Go Your Own Way”? Well, he sang a part (“Shacking up…”) in “Go Your Own Way,” that Stevie Nicks disagreed with, about their relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/16 "2009-09-23T17:27:34Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > It’s unusual for molestation to begin at 19 and carry forward into adulthood, isn’t it? In most cases, someone who molests his daughter begins in childhood or the early teens, right? People’s [article](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20307481,00.html) includes this telling quote: “Had this happened before? I didn’t know. All I can say is it was the first time I was aware of it.” > > It wouldn’t surprise me if he had started molesting her much earlier, and she just has repressed the memory. This may be what pushed her into drugs in her teens in the first place. I may be remembering this incorrectly, but I believe that MP has said in previous interviews that she never really had much contact with her father until she was pretty much an adult, that she hero-worshipped him at that time, and that was when he introduced her to drugs. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/17 "2009-09-23T18:01:32Z")
Is she just coming out with these claims now??? I think I read that she was caught a month or two ago with some drugs (heroin?) at LAX… I dont know if what she is saying is true or not, but if she is facing some serious legal trouble, having suffered through an incestious relationship as an adolescent may garner some sympathy from a judge or jury. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/18 "2009-09-23T18:02:08Z")
A lot of people are speculating that because it happened so late that he may have had boundary issues with her before that made her think this was okay. Like, maybe he was grooming her? And if she did wake up to find him having sex with her–then that’s clearly rape. I don’t know how consensual it can be if someone rapes you and you just go with it. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/19 "2009-09-23T18:14:31Z")
And to think that I could have gone my whole life without knowing this. How immeasurably enriched my day has been. Gee whiz, drug addicts do distasteful things with and to each other. Who knew? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225/20 "2009-09-23T18:24:11Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > It wouldn’t surprise me if he had started molesting her much earlier, and she just has repressed the memory. This may be what pushed her into drugs in her teens in the first place. Highly doubtful, if only because it’s never been established that there is such a thing as repressed memory. As [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repressed_memory#Controversy) says: > [@](#): > > The existence of repressed memory recovery has not been completely accepted by mainstream psychology, nor unequivocally proven to exist, and some experts in the field of human memory feel that no credible scientific support exists for the notions of repressed/recovered memories. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mackenze-phillips-slept-with-father-john-phillips/511225.md?page=2)