Mackenzie Phillips: I slept with my own father....- Page 2

[scott68]

Posted: 9/22/09 at 11:08pm

Now, now, Betty, she has a very important and challenging job as the host of the New Newlywed Game!

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 9/22/09 at 11:10pm

hahaha Scott...true. I am sure she will be interviewed on the set of The New Newlywed Game and she will manage to get a plug in for the show.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/22/09 at 11:22pm

in this game of celebrity it's sad that many people choose to use such incidents to get the press involved

From their point of view, writing it in an autobiography and revealing it in a sympathetic interview are the ONLY ways to prevent the tabloids from telling the story with an even more negative and sensationalist twist.

You may say "No one cares about Mackenzie Phillips!" but the editors and writers of the supermarket tabloids don't care how washed up a celebrity is. ALL celebrities are food for their headlines.

So, if you're a celebrity, you think, "The process of writing this book--or dictating the book--will be awful, and the interviews like dental surgery, but at least I'll get to tell my story IN MY OWN WORDS and not in the words of the Enquirer or the Star.

It's about exercising some control over the telling of their stories.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/22/09 at 11:48pm

This makes me sad.

[BroomstickBoy]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 1:08am

I liked her on So Weird. That's about it.

[CyCoSpAz2]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 1:53am

LOVED her in So Weird

[Q]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 1:57am

"isn't doing this to get attention."

Yeah, because no one else is in the industry.

Oh, wait, they all are.

Everything is fodder, if it sells.

I'm simply amazed that's there's actually anything left that people might be 'shocked' by. Frankly, I think the reactions are as fabricated as anything else.

[Jane2]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 8:26am

I guess we'll see if she gets her mission accomplished-her book on the NY Times best seller list. That's all that counts.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 9:09am

Let's face it. She wouldn't have gotten a book deal if she didn't have a "shocking secret" to reveal. So the entire reason for selling a book now, for her appearance on Oprah today, and for a biography about Mackenzie Phillips in general is her "shocking secret."

I'm really tired of that tactic in publishing. It's pathetic and sleazy. But the only thing more pathetic is Ms. Phillips' willingness to comply.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 9:28am

Oh, and I'll add this ...

It really puts Papa Phillips right up there on a short list with Michael Jackson, as far as I'm concerned.

I will do my damnedest to separate the man from the music, but if it weren't for the incredible voice of Mama Cass, I might consider taking a permanent hiatus from the Mamas & the Papas after learning about this.

It really sours the melodies for me.

[madbrian]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 9:35am

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, Mackenzie Phillips has made prior statements that her father 'passed her around' to his friends when she was a teenager, so he had already fallen far in my esteem. However, I agree with you about separating the music from the man, and that the voice of Cass Elliot will always make their music priceless.

By the way, on the 'sentimental music' thread I've posted a link to a video of Cass and Julie Andrews singing a Simon & Garfunkel medley.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 9:38am

I've seen that clip before, madbrian! Love it. I'll have to check it out on that thread ...

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 9:52am

I know what you mean. It's hard for me to even contemplate this, because their music has always been so deeply personal to me, and I'm one who always finds the line between the artist and the art a little blurry.

In other news, Chynna Phillips now sings Christian music. Who knew?

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 10:05am

Who can blame her?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 10:08am

It's pathetic and sleazy. But the only thing more pathetic is Ms. Phillips' willingness to comply.

So, if we accept that the events DID happen and that she is not making it up--and given the voraciousness of the supermarket tabloids to put stories like this on their covers in ways even more lurid (and the voraciousness of the public to hear lurid stories--what would you have suggested that Mackenzie do instead?

Keep it to herself? Not tell her story because her father was a member of a beloved singing group?

Or do you think she should go on Oprah but not write a book because the book sales give her money?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 10:10am

I can honestly say I'm not really shocked by this news. I have to agree with PJ here and say, if it's in her book, then it's already going to be out there. Better for her to discuss it on her own terms than to be another sleazy tabloid headline next to the Juicy Fruit and Archie Digest. I don't care if the secret is the reason she got the book deal or if it is to help her make money. If it really happened, then it happened and addressing it openly is therapeutic for her, which I cannot fault. Plus, her celebrity (enough to get on Oprah, at least) is enough to heighten awareness of the topic to the general public. It may be an opportunistic move, but I really don't see a major down side to it if the story is true. My only skepticism is if there were any witnesses to corroborate the story since she didn't reveal it until after her father's death (which in these cases, is very unlikely). I can only hope that she's being genuine and sincere and I hope her coming out with this story will be cathartic and beneficial to her psychological well-being.

Updated On: 9/23/09 at 10:10 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 10:11am

Why did she write the book then?

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 10:15am

Well, the other complete flipside and I know this is a unthinkable in the celebrity world, is keep it close/private. I mean, I'm a therapist and work with survivors who do it everyday. She could tell her family and those close to her. Did she need to write a book? I mean no one is asking her to be silent, but there is the option of only telling those who need to know and healing that way. She has made a choice to go public and I will be curious to see if she discusses her motivation. Who knows, the family may already know. Survivors heal in all kinds of ways, and telling the public isn't equivocal with healing.I'd like to know why she chose to.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 10:15am

If her goal was to get the word out and open a discussion, she could have given an interview to a tabloid magazine, or Barbara Walters (same thing lately).

She could have written a book on child molestation and the aftermath.

From what I can tell, this is a biography of her entire life, with the "dirty little secret" being played up to sell books.

But "you gotta have a gimmick." Even if it's a ... no, wait ... ESPECIALLY if it's a sleazy one.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 10:16am

Great post, Bettyboy72.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 10:26am

It's no secret that she was something of a teen idol for a brief period with famous parents and had a turbulent and highly unorthodox childhood which directly contributed to her unstable behavior and career. She knew her story was compelling enough to be told by a variety of other sources on television and watched by (possibly) millions. Why shouldn't she take the opportunity to tell it herself? Thousands of celebrities write their memoirs and biographies for whatever reasons they wish. I also watched the True Hollywood Story (which was fascinating) and while doing so, I often wondered how much of it was simply third-party reports on what happened or if she could shed more light on certain situations (her behavior during One Day at a Time, for example) that would add more subjective color to her actions and state of mind. It's one thing to have an audience judge you based on gossip fodder. It's entirely different when you address the audience with the subject directly and it can often earn their respect.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 10:49am

If her goal was to get the word out and open a discussion, she could have given an interview to a tabloid magazine, or Barbara Walters (same thing lately).

All that would do is put the money into the hands of the tabloid or ABC Television. Why is that more virtuous than telling her story in her own words?

She could have written a book on child molestation and the aftermath.

Actually, no, she couldn't have--nor would you really want her to. She doesn't have the professional credentials to write that kind of book.

I mean no one is asking her to be silent, but there is the option of only telling those who need to know and healing that way.

Bettyboy--that option doesn't exist when you are are an A-list, B-list or C-list celebrity and you have the threat of the Enquirer, the Star or any of a number of True Hollywood stories looming over you.

As much as it's easy to bash people like Mackenzie for "cashing in," that's really secondary for them compared to the victory of "telling my own story in my own words" over seeing the way the tabloids spin it. When you are in that kind of celebrity fishbowl, "only those who need to know" inevitably includes some creep who needs to sell your story.

I agree with MisterMatt: She's probably felt that her reputation since getting fired from One Day at a Time was somewhat unfair. This book is her way of giving perspective to what we know of her life from the way it was reported.

I'm looking forward to reading the book this weekend.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 11:00am

Apparently, she told her sister in 1997.

"After long nights of heroin use, she's claiming that she once woke up and that my father was on top of her having sex with her," Chynna tells Us Weekly. "Was he actually raping her? I don't know. Do I believe that they had an incestuous relationship and that it went on for 10 years? Yes."
Just Wrong

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 11:36am

I'm not sure why this should be viewed as a source of shame she should be quiet about.

It's her story; why can't she tell it?

It's not as though she's a murderer making money from her crimes.

[Marquise]

Posted: 9/23/09 at 11:39am

It's so sad and it's so so wrong that this even went down. We're talking incest here. John and Mackenzie Phillips were both sick out of their minds to be involved sexually for a DECADE. There's certain lines that are sacred and certain lines you just do not cross. It's disgusting on both of their parts and that she continued and let it go on is just disturbing.