Mackenzie Phillips
Phillips in 2008
Born	Laura Mackenzie Phillips (1959-11-10)November 10, 1959 (age 66)
Education	Highland Hall Waldorf School
Occupations	Actress singer author
Years active	1972–present
Known for	One Day at a Time American Graffiti So Weird
Spouses	Jeff Sessler ​ ​ (m. 1979; div. 1981)​ Michael Barakan ​ ​ (m. 1986; div. 2000)​ Keith Levenson ​ ​ (m. 2005; div. 2007)​
Children	1
Parents	John Phillips (father) Susan Adams[1] (mother)
Relatives	Freddie Sessler (former-father-in-law) Bijou Phillips (half-sister) Chynna Phillips (half-sister)

Laura Mackenzie Phillips (born November 10, 1959) is an American actress. She is the daughter of seminal folk-rock musicianJohn Phillips ofThe Mamas and the Papas and his first wife Susan Adams. Her best-known roles include Carol Morrison in the filmAmerican Graffiti, Julie Cooper Horvath on the sitcomOne Day at a Time, Molly Phillips onDisney Channel’ssupernatural seriesSo Weird,^[2] and Barbara "Barb" Denning inOrange Is the New Black.

Phillips attendedHighland Hall Waldorf School in Northridge, California.^[3] At age 12, Phillips formed a band with three of her classmates, and she was spotted byFred Roos, a casting agent, during one of their performances.^[4] She was given an audition for a role inGeorge Lucas's 1973 filmAmerican Graffiti, which she won.

Phillips was 12 years old during the filming ofAmerican Graffiti, and 13 when the movie was released. She was cast as Carol Morrison, a young girl accidentally picked up byhot rodding teenager John Milner (Paul Le Mat). Because of California state law, producerGary Kurtz became Phillips'slegal guardian for the duration of the filming.^[5]

Phillips gained stardom in the 1970s playing teenager Julie Cooper (when the character got married, her married name was Horvath) on the long-running television showOne Day at a Time, for which she earned $50,000 a week.^[4] During the show's third season in 1977, Phillips was arrested fordisorderly conduct. Because of her drug and alcohol abuse, Phillips began arriving late and was even incoherent for rehearsals. The producers ordered her to take a six-week break to overcome her addiction but were ultimately forced to fire her in 1980.^[4]

After two near-fataloverdoses, Phillips entered Fair Oaks Hospital voluntarily for treatment. In 1981, the producers ofOne Day at a Time invited her back to the show.^[4] However, in 1982, Phillips relapsed intococaine use and the following year, she collapsed on the show's set. After refusing to take a drug test, she was fired permanently, and her character written out of the series. In 1992, Philips entered a drug rehab program for nine months.^[4]

From the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, Phillips performed as a singer and toured with a re-formed version of The Mamas & the Papas, known asThe New Mamas and The Papas.

In 1999, Phillips co-starred withCara DeLizia in the Disney Channel seriesSo Weird, playing a fictional rock star named Molly Phillips. She sang original songs written by show producers Jon Cooksey and Ann Marie Montade. In 2002, she appeared in the Disney Channel original movieDouble Teamed. Phillips guest-starred on episodes ofER,Without a Trace,7th Heaven,Cold Case, andBeverly Hills, 90210.^[6]

Phillips won an Honorary Best Actress award on March 20, 2011, at the closing night awards gala of theFemale Eye Film Festival in Toronto for her performance as Sharon in the 2010 independent filmPeach Plum Pear. While in Toronto, she was interviewed onCanada AM,ET Canada, andThe Marilyn Denis Show.^[7]

In 2016, Phillips began working at the Breathe Life Healing Center inWest Hollywood, California as a drug rehab counselor.^[8]

In 2017, Phillips appeared in an episode of the rebootedOne Day at a Time as Pam Valentine. The role was apt, given Phillips's history: she portrayed a counselor. She reprised the role in 2019, in two episodes of the third season.

In 2018, Phillips appeared as Barbara Denning in episodes of the Netflix originalOrange Is the New Black.

Phillips has been married three times: first to rock group manager Jeffrey Sessler, son ofFreddie Sessler (from 1979 to 1981); then to rock guitaristShane Fontayne (from 1986 to 2000); and then to Keith Levenson in 2005 (they subsequently divorced). She has one child, son Shane Barakan (b. 1987), a musician. In an interview in March 2022, she stated that she has dated both men and women.^[9]

Phillips has struggled with drug abuse for much of her life. On August 27, 2008, she was arrested by theLos Angeles Airport Police on charges of possession ofcocaine andheroin, discovered after she went through airport security screening.^[10] On October 31, 2008, she pled guilty to one felony count of cocaine possession and was sentenced to a drug rehabilitation program.^[11] Phillips's drug case was dismissed after she successfully completed a drug diversion program.^[12]

She appeared on the third season ofCelebrity Rehab, which aired in January and February 2010. She later discussed her recovery on the March 17, 2010, episode ofThe View.^[13]

In September 2009, Phillips' memoirHigh on Arrival was released, after which she appeared onThe Oprah Winfrey Show for an hour-long interview. She told Winfrey that she first tried cocaine when she was 11 years old and that her father had given her drugs and injected her withcocaine. During the interview, Phillips read excerpts from her book. She said that at the age of 19, on the night before her first wedding in 1979, "I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father," and that when she confronted her father months later,^[14] asking why he had raped her, her father simply replied, "Raped you? Don't you mean we made love?"^[15] Phillips told Winfrey of having a "consensual" sexual relationship with her father,^[16] describing her participation as "sort ofStockholm syndrome, where you begin to love your captor."^[17] However, she has also described the initial incident as a rape and has said, "No matter what kind of incest, it is an abuse of power ... a betrayal of trust."^[15]

The alleged abuse ended after Phillips conceived a child and, worried about its parentage, subsequently had an abortion, for which her father paid.^[18]

Genevieve Waite, John Phillips' third wife, denied the allegations, saying they were inconsistent with his character.Michelle Phillips, John's second wife, also stated that she had "every reason to believe [Mackenzie's account is] untrue."^[19] However,Chynna Phillips, Phillips' half-sister and Michelle Phillips's daughter, stated that she believed Phillips' claims and that Phillips first told her about the relationship during a phone conversation in 1997, approximately 11 years after the supposed relationship had ended.^[20] Jessica Woods, daughter ofDenny Doherty, said that her father had told her that he knew "the awful truth" and that he was "horrified at what John had done."^[21]

• High on Arrival (2009)
• Hopeful Healing: Essays on Managing Recovery and Surviving Addiction (2017)

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMackenzie Phillips.

• Mackenzie Phillips atIMDb

• 1959 births
• 20th-century American actresses
• 21st-century American actresses
• American child actresses
• American film actresses
• Actresses from Los Angeles
• American memoirists
• American women pop singers
• American substance abuse counselors
• American television actresses
• Living people
• Participants in American reality television series
• Singers from Los Angeles
• Highland Hall Waldorf School alumni
• Incestual abuse
• American women memoirists
• The Mamas and the Papas members
• Phillips family
• LGBTQ people from California
• American LGBTQ musicians
• American LGBTQ writers
• American LGBTQ actresses
• LGBTQ people from Virginia

• Use mdy dates from September 2023
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Commons category link from Wikidata