Warning: This article contains discussion of rape which some readers may find distressing.
Actor Mackenzie Phillips shared a shocking revelation about her alleged 10-year incestuous relationship with her father, John Phillips, the lead singer of the ’60s band The Mamas & The Papas, in a memoir that caused a rift within her family.
At the age of 65, Mackenzie Phillips released her memoir, High on Arrival, in 2009. In it, she accused her late father of raping her in 1979, the night before she was set to marry a member of the Rolling Stones’ entourage.
“I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father,” she recounted in the book.
When she confronted her father about the alleged abuse, he reportedly denied it was rape, claiming instead that he made love to her.
Her family was deeply divided over these disturbing claims.
Genevieve Waite, her stepmother at the time the alleged abuse took place, released a statement asserting that John Phillips was “incapable, no matter how drunk or drugged he was, of having such a relationship with his own child.”
Michelle Phillips, his second wife, also expressed skepticism about the veracity of Mackenzie’s allegations.
Despite the family’s discord, Mackenzie’s half-sister, Chynna Phillips Baldwin, has consistently supported her claims. She recalls a phone call they had in 1997, around 11 years after the alleged abuse had ended.
Discussing their father 14 years later on Chynna’s YouTube channel, Chynna commented, “One of my favorite individuals in the whole wide world is John Phillips. He’s a very – talk about complex, so many different levels to who he was. Obviously, he’s an amazing songwriter.”
Mackenzie chimed in, calling him a “Genius.”
Chynna went on: “You know, I loved his laugh, and yet there was this whole other side to Dad that was kind of like a monster.”
Mackenzie added: “Very, very dark side.”
She later expressed, “Dad was something else, and I get a lot of criticism and a lot of trolling online for having forgiveness in my heart. Forgiveness because forgiving is for me, not for the other person, and forgiving doesn’t mean I cosign or agree with what I’m forgiving you for – or him for – it’s very complicated, it’s very, very complicated and yet I am at peace.”
When Mackenzie appeared on Oprah following the book’s release, she described how the situation escalated: “Fast-forward… and it’s 1981, maybe, and we’re touring, and I begin waking up after drug-fuelled events with my pants around my ankles and my father sleeping beside me.”
She explained that she tried to suppress the memories: “Again, ‘Don’t think, don’t look, just keep going.'”
Mackenzie clarified that the incidents were sporadic: “It didn’t happen every day, it didn’t happen every week, but it certainly happened and it happened enough times.”
She claimed that after the initial assault, she entered into a consensual sexual relationship with her father.
“It’s sort of the Stockholm Syndrome, where you begin to love your captor. And I felt great love for my father,” she explained.
The relationship ultimately ended when she became pregnant and could not determine the child’s paternity.
If you have been affected by any of the issues discussed in this article, assistance is available from The National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673), which operates 24/7. Alternatively, you can chat online at online.rainn.org.