With Mackenzie Phillips, When Is It Too Much Information?

By Jo Piazza Posted Oct 4th 2009 07:00PM

Mackenzie Phillips just keeps going and going and going ...

It's been almost two weeks since Mackenzie Phillips dropped the bombshell that she carried on a ten-year incestuous affair with her father John Phillips. In the past ten days, there have been plenty of emotions from the public, starting with shock and horror followed by a voracious need for more details. We also watched as members of the Phillips clan -- Chynna, Bijou and Michelle -- tried to piece together their own admittedly-hazy memories of their family history.

Now we're just exhausted. We've watched Mackenzie on Oprah, on Extra, on Larry King and on the Today Show...twice. We even bought the book she has been touting, 'High On Arrival,' just in case we had missed anything. Does anyone else feel exhausted watching her retell such painful stories at such a high frequency? Expert Opinion After the Jump >>>

Scenes From the Mackenzie Phillips Book Tour

'Larry King Live'

'Oprah'

'Today'
"It is amazing that she keeps going. If she were my client, I would have advised her do no more than two key interviews with tremendous reach such as the one she did on Today Show," advised Rebecca Brooks, president of The Brooks Group PR.

"When she started (her tour) viewers/readers were stunned and felt for her, but by continuing, she looks like she has alternative motives and the over-saturation will lead to irritation and ultimately people will tune her out and not care."

And yet Phillips shows no signs of slowing down. She chatted with Mario Lopez on Extra Thursday night and even said she was still shocked and confused that people had such strong reactions to her story. "I didn't expect this firestorm," Mackenzie said with a straight face. She said the same thing to USA Today.

AOL StyleList contributing editor and longtime gossip columnist Ben Widdicombe says, '"Come off it Mackenzie."

"She was naive to think she could drop a bombshell like this and not set off shockwaves. She had to know what she was doing," Widdicombe tells PopEater.

Whether or not she knew was a maelstrom this would cause is irrelevant now because, Mackenzie is selling mad copies of her book. This week, 'High on Arrival,' was number 14 on the USA Today bestselling books list. Will she do more publicity in hopes of nitting No. 1?

"These things have cycles. And Mackenzie did a publicity blitz when her book came out. And we reeled from that," explains Rachel Sklar, editor-at-large for Mediaite.com to PopEater. "And then we heard from her sisters, and we reeled from that. And then the talking heads and bloggers chewed it over, and we all reeled together and that's how a story makes its way through the public consciousness. At some point, you have to just shut up and read. In the meantime - there's David Letterman!"

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Shocking Celebrity Tell-Alls

Mackenzie Phillips reveals details of a sexual relationship with her late father, Mamas and Papas singer John Phillips, in her 'High on Arrival.' See More Scandalous Reveals From Stars >>>

Tags: high on arrival, HighOnArrival, mackenzie phillips, MackenziePhillips

Comments

(35)

Monday 05 October

By Bobbb

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SORRY BUT IF YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN A VICTIM OF SEXUAL INCEST THEN IT IS GONG TO VERY DIFFICULT, PROBABLY UNBELIEVABLY POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS PART OF THE PROCESS OF HEALING. THE MORE SHE EXPLAINS IT TO PEOPLE THEN THE MORE SHE ACCEPTS THAT IT HAPPENED AND NOW SHE CAN MOVE ON. wHEN YOU KEEP IT INSIDE THEN IT IS ALL-CONSUMING. IT IS TOO SHAMEFUL TO FACE. BUT THE MORE YOU SHARE THIS WITH OTHER PEOPLE THEN THE LESS THREATENING IT BECOMES, UNTIL IT AND BY EXTENSION YOU BECOME ACCEPTED AND FEEL SHAME NO MORE. SO TRY TO BE UNDERSTANDING. THIS WAS A HORRIBLE HORRIBLE THING SHE LIVED THROUGH AND SHE NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT. GOD BLESS HER FOR SURVIVING, AND GOD, PLEASE HELP MACKENZIE THROUGH THIS HEALING PROCESS, AND GOD SHOW THESE PEOPLE THE WAY TO HELP THIS WOMAN HEAL.

By Cookie

Another nutball in a nutshell!

By Jay Adler-Freelance Writing

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How does anybody know what emotions Ms. Phillips is experiencing regarding her book.Frankly, I find her topic to be thoroughly nauseating and curiously I have not heard of one piece of supporting evidence or possibly a witness observing anything material to this horrible story.Another thing, the relationship with John who can tell no tales she said was consensual rather than abuse.In the USA, that kind if behavior is rare. Almost always the abuse is one sided.I think a lot of individuals should have listened to WC Fields. Jay Adler

By mary

PLEEEEEZE MCKENZIE STOP YOUR LIES!!! I remember reading your articles back in the 70's and 80"s about your drugs partys and getting kicked off your set for being stoned. you have been a drug addict all your life and now you ran out of money for your drugs so why not write a book to make lots of money for more drugs. how many times have you said you are clean oops busted again last year when you were suppose to be clean. you knew right from wrong and being stoned is no excuse for sleeping with your father. maybe it was your fault cause you starved his attention and love. i remember reading years ago you and him didnt even get along. so whats up with all this now? seems like its different stories. did you forget what you stated in the past? i kept all those magazine articles from back in the day and im sure some news investigator will dig them up and contradict your story and book now. the past will come back to haunt you. hope its your dead father!! anyone who buys this book its a shame cause the proceeds will go up her nose or in her arm.

By Tony D.

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PAINFUL STRORY??? I can tell by the smile on her face what she must have suffere everyday. Let's see she had sex with her father the night before her wedding and then for another ten to eleven years. She was an adult and knew damn well what she was doing. What about thee poor sucker that she married. He got sloppy seconds or thirds or fourths and more. God I hope she recovers from all this soon. POOR thing now excuse me while I barf.

By Francine

I can't tell you that I feel badly for what this has done to the better side of parenting in life. I can't even imagine that a child who in her adult years decidedly made it her life's work to be at her Dad's bed and call and then to talk about it like she was the innocent victim truly blows my mind. Yes, what was done to her was wrong but what year in the Disney mind of "grown up" didn't she realize that she should not be doing this and that Daddy wasn't really Mickey Mouse. She is pathetic and so are those who are patting her on the back and telling her that it was not her fault. PAAALEAZZZEEEE when do you stop blaming the dead man and start realzing that the stage is yours to make up the GREATEST STORY YOU EVER WANTED TOLD. GET A LIFE MACKENZIE, STOP THE BUS, and get into some therapy.

By ellendelf

It makes me wonder about the people that are reacting so violently towards Phillips. Are they hiding their own dirty little secrets?

Incest is there and it's way too common. It isn't just about getting sex from the closest source. It's about someone controlling a person weaker than themselves.

I do have to say, that her story has seemed to gone beyond just revealing it, to becoming something designed to titillate the public. There is such a thing as too much information.

By Survivor47

Did anyone stop to think that may be she was on drugs because of the abuse? Once you remember what happened you can't turn it off. You want to talk about it because it makes you feel better and more powerful. You go girl keep talking, gets lots of counceling, I was appauled by it, but i totally understood it. She is very brave, I don't think its right to Judge her like that and not believe her. Why the heck would she do it? Some 20 years later. Cause you repress memories. When you remember all the details all you want to do is tell your side of the story so you can move on and get over it. When a person does drugs, or drinks, or whatever type of addiction there is a reason. There is a lot of pain and people self medicate.
Lighten up and let her talk. I will buy the book no doubt. By the way Mac thanks for coming out and giving other people the courage. It explains the addiction and all the problems she had growing up. She did the drugs people to feel better, may be that was her only way. And being around adults who did those types of drugs, well she was around it all the time. And to her step-mother get a clue your hubby did it so quit denying it. She must be sexually frigid, cause if she was keepin her hubby satisfied he wouldn't have done this horrible thing. Great Michelle now we know why she didn't come out sooner, no support from you. I totally dislike Michelle now. Michelle are you God, how can you say such horrible judgemental things. Your a big fat slob with yellow teeth. I love you Mac!

By Maggie

How desperate for cash is Ms. Phillips? OK, you shared your pain, not to minimize it, but isn't this what keeps therapists in business? Just another example of the dumbing down of America. I for one sill save my $17.98 for groceries.

By sheilph2

I don't know why, but I believe her. I just don't think you make that stuff up. But........who advised her to tell her story to the world? Why is that necessary for healing? I have worked with incest survivors. Many have multiple personality disorders. So, they go to a reputable therapist, find a support group, confront those people who prepetrated the evil and also those who should have protected them. They know that not everyone in the family is going to believe them.
So, again I ask, why does she need to tell the world? We can't help her? arrest a dead man? or give her back her childhood?

By Chrissy

Gee im sure she is getting paid a pretty penny for everyone of these interviews.

She is turning her tragic event into a way to get money and it is pathetic

By Pam

This whole story makes me want to throw up! How revolting for human beings to act just like animals! I recently found out her own father got her pregnant. I switched channels after that revelation. I supposed she got an abortion. What is there left to separate human behavior from animal behavior? Humans are supposed to behave on a much higher level, I always thought. Obviously, she is ignorant of the fact that what she and her father did is an abomination to God, or she would have kept the whole story to herself. She's going around telling the whole world like it's something to be proud of. She ought to be ashamed of herself and her father. What a disgrace!

Friday 09 October

By Marcia Smith

I was on the management team for 'The Mamas and the Papas' and John's partner for six years ending in '90. Mackenzie is lying about so many things in her book that it would take another book to set the record straight.....and maybe that's what I will do. I read where a psycologist said that Bijou was in foster care. She was NEVER in foster care - when John and I were on the road with the group, she stayed with a family near our home to watch her until we returned. They happened to be a foster care family, but if I didn't go on the road, Bijou was with me. Mackenzie claims to have had an adjoining room with her father after she had her baby and was back on the road in Hawaii, and that she spent every night with him. Sooooo not true. I was on that trip, shared the room with John, and there was no adjoining room and no overnights by Mackenzie - I can assure you. She also claims in her book that when she finally landed in Albany to go to the hospital to have her baby that her father wasn't there, please be reminded that we were touring and made all the arrangements for her. Someone was there to pick her up but she didn't get on the plane she was supposed to be on, so whoever was supposed to get her on the plane was threatened royally and finally put her on another plane and that plane was met by someone who took Mackenzie to the hospital. As soon as we got back in town, our first stop as to see Mackenzie. I could go on and on. She said on Larry King Live that she didn't have a lot of boyfriends, when Larry asked her the question.......she said that she 'holds that very dear to her'. What a joke! She had boyfriendS in every port. When we were working in San Francisco, she asked me to go with her while she got her eleventh abortion. Hardly the the innocent, sacred person she's trying to make herself out to be. This is total payback, because John found Mackenzie to be nothing but a nuisance. One more thing.........the story about John wanting Mackenzie to run away with him to Fiji and live as husband and wife.......that was Mackenzie's fantasy, certainly not Johns'. She was obsessed with him. She's disgusting. Not only that, but she was always jealous of the rest of the family, including Michelle and Genevieve, because they were all beautiful and she was, well she is very unatractive.

Thursday 08 October

By krb1961

I have over the years counseled a large number of people addicted to drugs who had been abused as children. One of the reasons why "victims" do not tell their stories is because of some of the negative comments I've read here and elsewhere. It is really easy to call the victim a liar and support the abuser when he or she is respected or praised in the community. It is easier to accept that John Phillips was a bad parent for introducing his young child to drugs either by giving them to her or making them available then it is to accept that he committed incest with her. MacKenzie's story is just that her story. No one can say it did or didn't happen. Incest is so taboo that there is no way in hell that John would have been running around broadcasting it to the world. Also, it is not something that is done in the open, people who are involved in incestuous or sexually abusive relationships become adept at hidding the fact that it's happening. Their is never a consensual relationship between a father and daughter. Some have looked at the fact that she was 18 years old, but the bottom line is the woman as a young girl was so strung out on drugs with such a low self-esteem that although she on some level knew that it was wrong did not want to lose "daddy's" love. Even if she had consented, John was the parent and not only should he have said NO, it should never have started. I believe that this event did occur and I'm glad she was able to tell her story, perhaps now she can heal. She should tell her story on every venue that she can and reach as many young people as she can and just maybe some other child will not have to go through what she went through. Ask yourself would we even be having this discussion if it were not for MacKenzie telling her story. I highly doubt it because no one wants to admit that it happens.

Sunday 11 October

By marcus lipshitz

Mackenzie is someone who has courage,intestinal fortitude, and backbone. It is ironic that her story is coming out at the start of the new Jewish year, 5770. I commend her for sharing her story with other incest victims and now they do not have to feel they are alone.

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