Mackenzie Phillips speaks about alleged incestuous relationship with father

During a lengthy conversation about their ‘dysfunctional’ family, Mackenzie Phillips opened up about why she chose to forgive late father John Phillips after the couple’s decade-long abusive and incestuous relationship.

“Dad was something else,” Mackenzie, 64, said during a Monday, Dec. 4 gathering for sister Chynna Phillips Baldwins YouTube channel. “And I get a lot of criticism, and a lot of trolls online, because I have forgiveness in my heart. Forgiveness, because forgiveness is for me, not for the other person. And forgiveness doesn’t mean I co-sign or agree with what I’m forgiving him for. It is very complicated and yet I am at peace with it.”

Mackenzie previously claimed in her 2009 memoir: High upon arrivalthat her abusive relationship with her father began after he raped her at age 19 on the night she married her ex-husband Jeff Sessler. The relationship was then said to be consensual for almost a decade, coming to an end when Mackenzie discovered she was pregnant but was unsure if John was the baby’s father. She later had an abortion. (Mackenzie was married to Sessler from 1979 to 1981 before moving on Shane Fontaynewhom she married in 1986. The couple welcomed a son Shane Barakan in 1987 before their split in 2000. They later married Keith Levenson in 2005.)

Chynna, 55 – who is married Billy Baldwin – agreed with Mackenzie’s view of their father, sharing that there were “so many different levels” to who he was. “Obviously he’s a great songwriter and, you know, I loved his laugh, and yet there was this whole other side to Dad that was, I mean, kind of like a monster,” she added. (John died of heart failure in 2001 at age 64.)

When Mackenzie noted that the Mama’s & Papa’s singer had a “really, really dark, dark side,” Chynna responded, “He was so dark and you just didn’t know who you were going to get.” It was very unpredictable.”

After Mackenzie released her memoir in 2009, she and Chynna publicly clashed, with Chynna claiming she knew about the incest but was not informed of Mackenzie’s plan to detail it in her book. Chynna said at the time that she would have liked “a little family conference” prior to the memoir’s release.

“So we can talk about what feels safe to you, what doesn’t feel safe to you,” she explained to her sister during a joint interview in 2009. “But you know what? In our family that may not have been realistic. That may not have worked.”

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Jan was the father of five children. He shared Mackenzie and son Jeffrey Phillips with ex-wife Susan Adams. He later married a second wife Michelle Phillips in 1962 and the couple welcomed daughter Chynna before their divorce seven years later. In 1972 he tied the knot Geneviève Waite and they welcomed son Tamerlan Philips and daughter Bijou Philips before quitting in 1985. (John married his fourth wife, Farnaz Arastehin 1995.)

While Mackenzie faced tension from most of her family members following her claims against John, she and Chynna were eventually able to make up. “When I stood by you, I meant it with all my heart and I believed you and I want you to know that I was proud of you for coming out,” she said during the duo’s YouTube conversation.

Chynna noted that the Phillips were labeled as one of the “most dysfunctional” families in Hollywood. While discussing their struggles, the singer referenced his brother-in-law’s fatal accident on set Alec Baldwin’s Rust film and sister Bijou, 43, who files for divorce from her estranged husband Danny Masterson after being sentenced to 30 years in prison earlier this year on two counts of rape.

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“It’s been a terribly painful few years for me,” she said, recounting that her trauma manifested itself in “very bizarre” ways, such as chest pain and upper back pain. “I feel like I was on such a great trajectory to start [simplify my life] and then more trauma came my way and I lost my way again.

Mackenzie, who has been sober for six years, agrees with her sister, saying she often needs to “recharge” after performing in public. “I’m almost a recluse,” she said. “But I work in a drug rehabilitation center. … I have to protect myself, but at the same time be compassionate.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).