Mackenzie Phillips Forgives Dad John’s Alleged Rape & Incest _ E! News

Transcript

00:00 It's very complicated. It's very, very complicated. And, uh, and yet I am at peace.

00:10 Mackenzie Phillips is speaking out about a painful period from her past.

00:15 During a November 29th sit down with her sister Chyna Phillips Baldwin, the One Day at a Time

00:21 actress discusses the decade-long incestuous relationship she allegedly had with her late

00:27 father, musician John Phillips, who died in 2001. Mackenzie's mom is Susan Adams,

00:34 while Chyna's is Michelle Phillips. Dad was something else. And I get a lot of criticism

00:40 and a lot of trolling online for having forgiveness in my heart.

00:47 Forgiveness because forgiving is for me, not for the other person. And forgiving doesn't mean I

00:57 co-sign or agree with what I'm forgiving you for or him for. Mackenzie, who previously opened up

01:06 about her relationship with the Mamas and Papas singer in her 2009 memoir, says the relationship

01:12 began when she was 19 when her father raped her and that it lasted for 10 years, coming to an end

01:19 after she became pregnant and wasn't sure if her dad was the baby's father. So many different

01:24 levels to who he was. And obviously he's an amazing songwriter. And, you know, I loved his

01:31 laugh. And yet there was this whole other side to dad that was, I mean, kind of like monster.

01:40 Very dark. Because he was so dark and you just didn't know who you were going to get. Right.

01:48 Very unpredictable. Following the release of her memoir in 2009, Mackenzie got candid about this

01:55 part of her life during an interview with Oprah Winfrey. I was a little girl who had this larger

02:02 than life and you adored your father, adored my father. I waited for him over and over again.

02:07 I was constantly trying to get his attention, trying and and and this deep visceral yearning

02:14 for connection. A yearning that she added got twisted and combined with the drugs and alcohol

02:20 she used at the time. Over time, your perception of things and as they should be and as the world

02:27 as it is and the rules of society becomes warped and twisted. And I I look there is an inevitable

02:34 backlash. I'm not doing this to make myself look good because there's no way to look good. Yes,

02:39 because the backlash is going to be I'll tell you what the backlash is. You were old enough to know

02:44 better. Of course, I was old enough to know better. And clearly, from the way I talk about it in the

02:48 book, I knew better. I knew that I was probably not going to survive long in my life because of

02:56 the things I was living through. And I can't I can't explain this away. It happened. But it

03:02 finally stopped when she became pregnant. The implications, the reality of that. Yeah,

03:09 I had an abortion and I never let him touch me again.

03:20 Yeah, yeah. Mhm. Mhm.

03:23 (upbeat music)