Mackenzie Phillips

Mackenzie Phillips

Mackenzie Phillips in One Day at a Time in 1975
Born Laura Mackenzie Phillips
(1959-11-10) November 10, 1959
Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
Nationality American
Other names Mackinzie Phillips
Education Highland Hall Waldorf School
Occupation Actress, singer
Years active 1973–present
Spouse(s) Jeff Sessler (m. 1979–81)
Michael Barakan (m. 1986–2000)
Keith Levenson (m. 2005)
Children Shane Barakan (b. 1987)
Parent(s) John Phillips
Susan Adams
Relatives Bijou Phillips (half-sister)
Chynna Phillips (half-sister)

Laura Mackenzie Phillips (born November 10, 1959) is an American actress and singer best known for her roles in American Graffiti and as rebellious teenager Julie Mora Cooper Horvath on the sitcom One Day at a Time. She is more recently known for her role in the Disney Channel science fiction show So Weird.[1]

Early life

Born in Alexandria, Virginia, she is the daughter of John Phillips, singer of The Mamas & the Papas, and his first wife, Susan Adams. She is the sister of Jeffrey Phillips and a half-sister of Tamerlane Phillips, actress Bijou Phillips, and singer Chynna Phillips.

Phillips attended Highland Hall Waldorf School in Northridge, California.[2] At age 12, Phillips formed a band with three of her classmates and was spotted by a casting agent during one of their performances.[3] She was given an audition for a role in the 1973 hit film American Graffiti, which she won.

Career

Phillips was 12 years old during the filming of American Graffiti, and 13 when the movie was released. She was cast as Carol Morrison, a young girl accidentally picked up by hot rodding teenager John Milner (Paul Le Mat). Because of California state law, producer Gary Kurtz became Phillips' legal guardian for the duration of the filming.[4]

Phillips gained stardom in the 1970s, when she played boy-crazy teenager Julie Cooper (when the character got married, her married name was Horvath) on the long-running television show One Day at a Time, for which she earned $50,000 a week.[3] During the show's third season in 1977, Phillips was arrested for disorderly conduct. Because of her drug and alcohol abuse, Phillips began arriving late and was even incoherent for rehearsals. The producers ordered her to take a six-week break to overcome her addiction but were ultimately forced to fire her in 1980.[3]

After two nearly fatal overdoses, Phillips entered Fair Oaks Hospital to undergo treatment. After she completed treatment in 1981, the producers of One Day at a Time invited her back to the show.[3] However, in 1982, Phillips resumed her cocaine use and the following year, she collapsed on the show's set. When she refused to take a drug test, she was fired again, and this time for good. Her character was written out of the series. In 1992, she entered a long-term drug rehabilitation program and underwent intensive treatment for nine months.[3]

From the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, Phillips performed with a re-formed version of The Mamas & the Papas, known as The New Mamas and The Papas.

In 1999, Phillips co-starred with Cara DeLizia in the Disney Channel series So Weird, playing a fictional rock star named Molly Phillips. She sang original songs written by show producers Jon Cooksey and Ann Marie Montade. In 2002, she appeared in the Disney Channel original movie Double Teamed. Phillips guest-starred on episodes of ER, Without a Trace, 7th Heaven, and Cold Case.

Phillips won an Honorary Best Actress award on March 20, 2011 at the closing night awards gala of the Female Eye Film Festival in Toronto, Canada, for her performance as Sharon in the 2010 independent film Peach Plum Pear. While in Toronto, she was interviewed on Canada Am, ET Canada, and The Marilyn Denis Show .[5]

She currently works at the Breathe Life Healing Center in West Hollywood, California, as a drug rehab counselor.[6][7]

Personal life

Phillips has been married three times: first to rock group manager Jeffrey Sessler, son of Freddie Sessler (from 1979 to 1981), to rock guitarist Michael Barakan – now known professionally as Shane Fontayne (from 1986 to 2000) and currently to film and theater composer Keith Levenson (from 2005). She has one child, a son, Shane Barakan (born 1987), a musician.

Substance abuse and arrest

Phillips has had a lifetime troubled by drug abuse. On August 27, 2008, she was arrested by the Los Angeles Airport Police on charges of possession of cocaine and heroin after she went through airport security screening.[8] On October 31, 2008, she pleaded guilty to one felony count of cocaine possession, and was sentenced to a drug rehabilitation program.[9] Phillips' drug case was dismissed after she successfully completed a drug diversion program.[10]

She appeared on the third season of Celebrity Rehab, which aired in January and February 2010. She later discussed her recovery on the March 17, 2010, episode of The View.[11]

Allegations of sexual relationship with father

In September 2009, Phillips's memoir High on Arrival was released, after which she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show for an hour-long interview. She told Winfrey that she first tried cocaine when she was 11 years old, and that her father had taken drugs with her, and had also injected her with cocaine.

During the interview, Phillips read excerpts from her book. She said that at the age of 19, on the night before her first wedding, "I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father." In a later article in People magazine, she adds that she was under the influence of drugs provided by her father.[12] Phillips then told Winfrey, "It became a consensual relationship,"[13][14] describing her participation as "sort of Stockholm Syndrome, where you begin to love your captor."[14]

She later reconsidered her characterization that it was a consensual relationship. In an interview on HLN's The Joy Behar Show, she said: "As I was writing the book, I thought, this word, it kept sitting wrong with me. But I used it for lack of a better word. Since then, I've been schooled by thousands of incest survivors all across the world that there really is no such thing as consensual incest due to the inherent power a parent has over a child. So, I wouldn't necessarily call it a consensual relationship at this time."[15]

Phillips said the relationship had happened gradually for ten years,[16] and that she ended it when she became pregnant and did not know who had fathered the child. She stated that her father paid for her to have an abortion, "and I never let him touch me again."[17][18]

Geneviève Waïte, John's wife at the time MacKenzie claimed the incest first began, denies the allegations, saying they were inconsistent with his character. Michelle Phillips, John's second wife, also stated that she had "every reason to believe [Mackenzie's account is] untrue."[19]

Chynna Phillips, Mackenzie's half-sister and Michelle Phillips' daughter, stated that she believed Mackenzie's claims and that Mackenzie first told her about the relationship during a phone conversation in 1997, approximately 11 years after the supposed relationship had ended.[20] Bijou Phillips (whose mother is Geneviève Waïte, as opposed to Mackenzie's mother Susan Adams, and Chynna's mother Michelle Phillips), Mackenzie's other half-sister, said in a statement that Mackenzie had informed her of the relationship when Bijou was 13 years old, and the information had a devastating effect on her (Bijou's) teenage years, stripping her of her innocence and leaving her "wary of [her] father."[21] She also stated, "I'm 29 now, I've talked to everyone who was around during that time, I've asked the hard questions. I do not believe my sister. Our father [was] many things; this is not one of them."[22]

Jessica Woods, daughter of Denny Doherty, said that her father had told her that he knew "the awful truth,"[23] and that he was "horrified at what John had done."[23]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1973 American Graffiti Carol
1975 Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins Frisbee
1979 More American Graffiti Carol / Rainbow
1982 Love Child J.J.
1998 True Friends Connie
1999 When Catherine Brown
2005 Jacket, TheThe Jacket Nurse Harding
2011 Hercules Saves Christmas Helen Dunn
2011 Peach Plum Pear Sharon
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1973 Go Ask Alice Doris TV movie
1974 Movin' On Chessie Episode: "Roadblock"
1975 Miles to Go Before I Sleep Robin Williams TV movie
1975 Baretta Mindy Episode: "On the Road"
1975 Mary Tyler Moore Show, TheThe Mary Tyler Moore Show Francie Episode: "Mary's Delinquent"
1975-1983 One Day at a Time Julie Mora Cooper Horvath 123 episodes
1976 Eleanor and Franklin Eleanor Roosevelt, age 14 TV movie
1978 Love Boat, TheThe Love Boat Allison Scott 1 episode
1979 Fast Friends Susan TV movie
1979 Incredible Hulk, TheThe Incredible Hulk Lisa Swan Episode: "Metamorphosis"
1980 Silent Lovers, TheThe Silent Lovers Lillian Gish TV movie
1982 Love Boat, TheThe Love Boat Rachel Johnson 1 episode
1985 Murder, She Wrote Carol Needom Episode: "Murder in the Afternoon"
1986 Kate's Secret Deyna TV movie
1994 Beverly Hills, 90210 Counselor Ellen Marks Episode: "Intervention"
1995 Melrose Place Maureen Dodd Episode: "Melrose Impossible"
Episode: "A Hose by Any Other Name"
1996 Guiding Light Rachel Sullivan TV series
1996 NYPD Blue Mary Donaldson Episode: "Sorry, Wrong Suspect"
1997 Caroline in the City Donna Spadaro Episode: "Caroline and the Singer"
1997 Walker, Texas Ranger Ellen Simms Episode: "Lucas: Part 1"
Episode: "Lucas: Part 2"
1998 Chicago Hope Valerie Boyd Episode: "Risky Business"
1998 Viper Heidi Rosen Episode: "The Full Frankie"
1999-2001 So Weird Molly Phillips Main role
2000 Outer Limits, TheThe Outer Limits Boo Weston Episode: "Down to Earth"
2001 Kate Brasher Tracy Del Rey Episode: "Tracy"
2001 Crossing Jordan Elaine Stahler Episode "The Dawn of a New Day"
2002 Double Teamed Mary Burge TV movie
2002 ER Leslie Miller Episode "Damage Is Done"
2003 Division, TheThe Division Carol Johnson Episode: "Thus with a Kiss I Die"
2004 Without a Trace Theresa Caldwell Episode: "Lost and Found"
2004 NYPD Blue Lorraine Stuval Episode: "Fish Out of Water"
2004 7th Heaven Allison Davies Episode: "Why Not Me?"
2005 One Day at a Time Reunion Herself
2007 Cold Case Sheila Swett Episode: "That Woman"
2009 Radio Needles Tonya Taylor TV movie
2012 Interns: The Web Series CEO Episode: "Accepted"
2012 Criminal Minds Ellen Russell Episode: "The Pact"
2012 She Made Them Do It Jamie Long TV movie
2015 Hot in Cleveland Kaylin Episode: "About a Joy"

References

  1. ↑ "The New York Times". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ Mackenzie Phillips (2009). High on Arrival. New York: Simon Spotlight Entertainment. ISBN 978-1-4391-5385-7.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Mackenzie Phillips Biography (1959-)". The Biography Channel. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
  4. ↑ Baxter, John (1999). Mythmaker: The Life and Work of George Lucas. Avon Books. ISBN 0-380-97833-4.
  5. ↑ "Press Release: MACKENZIE PHILLIPS, TYLER BLACKBURN & ALANNA MASTERSON CREATING MEDIA CIRCUS AT FEMALE EYE FILM FESTIVAL [FEFF]". wireservice.ca. Retrieved 2011-03-22.
  6. ↑ Our Team, Breathe Life Healing Center website
  7. ↑ "Mackenzie Phillips Tells Oprah Winfrey She Felt 'Abject Terror' About Revealing Incestuous Relationship with Her Father" by Lindsay KimbleApril 20, 2016, People,
  8. ↑ Martinez, Jennifer (August 27, 2008). "Mackenzie Phillips arrested on drug charge". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  9. ↑ Serjeant, Jill (October 31, 2008). "Mackenzie Phillips pleads guilty to drug charge". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  10. ↑ "Drug case dismissed against Mackenzie Phillips", USA Today, 20 April 2010
  11. ↑ Episode guide: The View, first aired: March 17, 2010, TV Guide
  12. ↑ Thomson, Katherine (2009-11-22). "Mackenzie Phillips' Oprah BOMBSHELL: Reveals Family Secret, Sex With Her Father". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2010-03-22.
  13. ↑ "New Bombshell from Mackenzie Phillips". CBS News. 2009-09-24. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
  14. 1 2 Schmidt, Veronica (2009-09-24). "Mackenzie Phillips, daughter of Mamas and Papas star, reveals their incestuous affair". London: The Times. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
  15. ↑ "Mackenzie Phillips: Incestuous Relationship With My Father NOT Consensual". Huffington Post. 2010-02-02. Retrieved 2010-03-22.
  16. ↑ "Mackenzie Phillips: I slept with my own father". People. September 22, 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  17. ↑ Thomson, Katherine (2009-09-23). "Mackenzie Phillips To Oprah: Decade Of Sex With Dad Ended With Abortion". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
  18. ↑ "Excerpt from High on Arrival by Mackenzie Phillips". Oprah.com. 2009-09-23. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
  19. ↑ Eng, Joyce. "Mackenzie Phillips' Family Split Over Star's Incest Claims". TV Guide. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
  20. ↑ Everett, Cristina (2009-09-23). "Chynna Phillips recalls learning about sister Mackenzie Phillips' affair with father, John Phillips". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
  21. ↑ "Bijou Phillips reacts to Mackenzie's Claims". Oprah. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
  22. ↑ "Phillips Blames Mackenzie For Ruining Her Life". The San Francisco Chronicle. 2009-09-29.
  23. 1 2 "Denny Doherty's Daughter Corroborates Mackenzie Phillips' Story". Oprah. Retrieved 2009-09-24.

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