Mackenzie Phillips’ life would make today’s reality TV look downright ho-hum. Even from birth, she was in the celebrity universe. Her father was the Mamas and Papas’ John Phillips. Just 12 years later she showed her own talents as the scene-stealing, bratty teenager in “American Graffiti” who hitched rides with Paul Le Mat.
That was followed with a number of TV roles until she landed in “One Day At A Time” as Bonnie Franklin’s daughter, Julie, from 1975 to 1983.
But it wasn’t a home run. Along with the success and fame came all types of temptations leading to drug and alcohol abuse, eventually getting her fired from the show.
Over the years, she’s had her ups and downs with addiction and recovery until 2008, when she pled guilty to cocaine possession. But that case was dismissed following her successful completion of a drug diversion program.
It was just a year later that her book, “High On Arrival” was published and in an interview with Oprah Winfrey she revealed controversial statements about having done drugs with her father as a youngster and having been raped by him on the night before her first wedding in 1979.
The lifetime of drama has finally settled down. While she has still appeared on TV occasionally, she has become the referral relations and program director at Breathe Life Healing Centers in Los Angeles since 2016.
According to Mackenzie, “My addiction was so powerful, and so rooted in early trauma, that I lost myself for many years. Now, with a strong recovery I’m committed to helping others find their voice in Breathe Life Healing Centers.”
Thanks to The Auxiliary of Nexus Spring Luncheon Chair Elizabeth Minahan and Auxiliary President Janina Solomon, Mackenzie will be taking a brief time away from Breathe Life to be the keynote speaker at the fundraiser benefiting Nexus Recovery Center on Wednesday, April 7, at the Hilton Anatole.
* Graphic and photo provided by The Auxiliary of Nexus Recovery Center