The Mackenzie Phillips Story

I was a huge fan of the Mamas and the Papas. I was also a huge fan of John Phillips after the Mamas and the Papas. For Pete's sake, I have both the John Phillips solo album (featuring "Mississippi", which should have been a major hit) and the Jack of Diamonds album, featuring a collection of outtakes (some of which should have remained there). I also have a collection of items from the Monterey Pop festival, which was his brainchild and perhaps his greatest accomplishment. And I'm in awe of his songwriting talents, ranging from the Mamas & Papas hits to the much, much later "Kokomo", which he supposedly wrote with Terry Melcher (Doris Day's son and perhaps Charlie Manson's real target) while so wasted that he could barely function.

So why do I find Mackenzie Phillips' story of incest with her father absolutely, without a doubt, believable -- especially when two of her former stepmothers, Michelle Gilliam Phillips and Genevieve Waite, claim she's lying?

Well, first off, maybe it's because I'm surprised by Michelle's denials. This is a woman who has discussed her own father being attracted to her -- as she put it, she was "his type". As a result, she lived a wild bohemian lifestyle atypical of Southern California during her youth. I'm sure Mackenzie lied and deceived over the years -- what addict doesn't, including her father? But you would think she would recognize the possibility of the situation. Maybe it's denial.

As far as Genevieve Waite, her daughter with John (Bijou) filed for emancipation from her parents at 14, went into rehab a couple of times while modeling, and turned into a Scientologist, one of the creepiest of the creepy. You don't think something about that seems a little off? Like maybe there were more family troubles other than just drug addiction?

Second, I remember when Mackenzie joined the reformed Mamas & Papas. John and Denny Doherty were there. Cass Elliot was dead and replaced by Spanky MacFarland (from 60's stars "Spanky and Our Gang"). And Mackenzie was playing Michelle's part. I remember thinking at the time, in response to some joke that John made, about her taking on all of her stepmather's roles, that he was implying that he was sleeping with her. But I thought that was so creepy that he was clearly joking.

But now...

Third, we know that John had incredible problems with substance abuse. My favorite story about this was John's story of writing "Me and My Uncle", the song for which he became widely known from its constant performances by the Grateful Dead (66 performances between 1966 and 1995!). John started getting royalty checks for the song, which first appeared on a Judy Collins live album, but he hadn't written it and told Judy so. Then she reminded him about a night out with her and a couple of other young musicians named Stephen Stills and Neil Young (pre-Buffalo Springfield) in Arizona after Judy's concert. As they got drunker and drunker, they were taping themselves on a cassette recorder. During the night, among other song fragments that were composed, John came up with an entire song, preserved by the tape. Judy took the song and started performing it -- unbeknownst to John, who couldn't really remember much about the evening period, let alone about the song.

come on, if you could get so blotto that you couldn't remember anything about writing a song that became a classic, is it hard to believe that you could get drunk/high enough to lose your inhibitions about incest? Especially with a beautiful and talented daughter who was as much of a junkie as you were?

If there is any part of the story that I have doubts about, it's about Mackenzie's own reactions. I'm willing to believe her story that her father initiated their sex. But I have a hard time picturing Mackenzie as anything but an enthusiastic participant over the life of the relationship. After all, her father had dumped her, her mother and her brother when they were just kids to take off with the teenaged Michelle. In some way, this had to feel to her like she was winning him back. I know her feelings weren't quite that simple, but look at the lengths to which she would have had to go over the years to keep such a relationship a secret from everyone, including her husband at the time. Apparently the only person she told was her half-sister Chynna (John & Michelle's daughter) back in 1997, which was about 10 years after she broke off the incest.

Anyway, nothing about this seems unlikely to me. I do feel sorry for Mackenzie, because she was such a talented actress (unlike her stepmother Michelle, who did some of the worst bombs ever), and it's a shame that she wasted her most productive years with so many personal issues, from the incest to the drug addiction. On the one hand, she has so much more than most people that she has no grounds to complain, from the starring role in a classic movie (American Graffiti) as a young teen to the hit TV shows ... on the other hand, I appreciate that she probably feels that she has to be open about her past to make sense of her future (and she's only turning 50, so it's not like she doesn't have years of possible achievement in front of her).