Famous Wilson Phillips singer, Mackenzie Phillips, spoke candidly about the decade-long incestuous relationship she had with her late father, singer John Phillips.
She discussed her challenges with her half sister, Chynna Phillips Baldwin, on her YouTube channel, and referenced her famous father as a “genius,” in spite of the fact that she acknowledged he had a “very, very dark side,” on the podcast. John, the famous frontman from the Mamas & the Papas, was described as being a very “unpredictable” man, who allegedly raped Mackenzie at the age of 19, before turning their incestuous relationship into a consensual one.
Mackenzie described her tumultuous childhood and expressed the challenges she faced when trying to find peace and forgiveness so she could move past her trauma.
“Dad was something else,” Mackenzie said, before she went on to talk about how she expressed her pain through her music. She described the powerful and emotional connection she felt to one of her most infamous songs, “Hold On,” and explained the pain behind the lyrics.
“And I get a lot of criticism and a lot of trolling online for having forgiveness in my heart. Forgiveness because forgiving is for me, not for the other person,” she said.
She admitted to spiraling through drug and alcohol addiction as coping mechanisms, and said it took her a long time to make peace with what had happened. She noted that she “was in rehab 10 or 11 times over a 30-year period” befor she got sober and was able to piece her life back together.
“Forgiving doesn’t mean I co-sign or agree with what I’m forgiving you for — or him for,” Mackenzie said.
“It’s very complicated. It’s very, very complicated,” she said on the podcast.
“And yet, I am at peace.”(RELATED: Denise Richards Slammed For ‘Sick’ OnlyFans Collaboration With Her Daughter)
John passed away in March 2001. Mackenzie detailed the depths of the abusive relationship she had with her father in her 2009 memoir, “High On Arrival,” and told fans her father first raped her when she was 19, on the night before her wedding.