Mackenzie Phillips: “The Victim Is Punished”
When Mackenzie Phillips decided to tell the world about her 10-yearlong incestuous relationship with her father, she knew that her life would change forever. But she had no idea that sharing such a painful secret would cost her some of the people she believed cared about her most.
“Maybe I am naïve,” Mackenzie, 50, tells In Touch. “I thought people would think I was weird for writing this book, but I never thought they would say it was a lie. I never thought my family would abandon me.”
Yet four months after the former One Day at a Time star related sexual encounters with her rocker father, John Phillips, in her best-selling autobiography, High on Arrival, that seems to be exactly what has happened.
Several of Mackenzie’s closest family members — including her stepmother, Michelle Phillips, and her half sister Bijou — have cut off all ties with her. Michelle has even accused Mackenzie of having a history of mental illness, a claim which both Mackenzie and Michelle’s daughter (and Mackenzie’s half sister) Chynna have denied. “This is what happens when incest survivors speak the truth,” Mackenzie shares. “The victim is punished.”
