HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Mackenzie Phillips is continuing her media blitz, one day after revealing she had a sexual relationship with her father, rock legend John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas.
In her new tell-all book "High on Arrival," Phillips discloses that she had sex with her father the night before her 1979 wedding to Jeff Sessler, a member of the Rolling Stones entourage. On Thursday, the former "One Day at a Time" child star attempted to defend her father during an appearance on the "Today Show."
"My father was not a bad man. He was a very sick man," she told co-host Meredith Vieira of the legendary rocker, who died in 2001. "If anyone out there can possibly separate his body of work from his personal demons, that would be the honorable thing to do. He didn't set out to hurt me. He did the best with what he had. He was a damaged guy."
During her visit, Phillips also attempted to clarify the details of their sexual relationship.
"At 18 I was molested, then maybe three years later, I started waking up with my pants down around my ankles. And then maybe two years after that, it became consensual," she explained. "So to call it a 10-year affair, a 10-year relationship, is not correct. That is something I would like to get out."
Phillips has been met with mixed reactions from her family after going public with the accusations, but she refused to blame those who haven't supported her.
"If you open a textbook on incest you can see a picture of the Phillips family," she said. "We are behaving in a typical way. The instinct is to say it's not true. The instinct is to deny. The instinct is to brush it under the table. The instinct is to protect the abuser. I love my family ... I understand this is very difficult, and to be revealed on a public level such as this makes it ever more difficult, and my heart goes out to them. I know that, God willing, as a family we will all be stronger when this dies down."
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