Mackenzie Phillips Story on Oprah Goes from Incest Rape to Abortion: Too Far to Be Believable?

The Mackenzie Phillips bombshell of incestuous rape that she dropped in her new book, High On Arrival, and again on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" is one that seems to have been part of a cluster. First, it was the incestuous relationship with her father, John Phillips. Then it was that she was raped by her father while they were high on heroin -- on her wedding day when she was 19 years old. Mackenzie Phillips also admitted that their incestuous affair would become consensual and last for 10 years. As if those details weren't enough, Mackenzie Phillips appeared on Oprah's show and told the talk show host (and the rest of the world) that she only ended the affair because she felt the need to have an abortion when she became pregnant out of fear that the child she was carrying was fathered by John Phillips.

Does this story get more wild and depraved as it goes along or what? And how did this story ever get on "The Oprah Winfrey Show"? Did someone slip her a "Jerry Springer" script or something?

Mackenzie Phillips appeared on Oprah Wednesday to talk about her autobiography, High On Arrival, released the same day and which will no doubt be a bestseller. Just the part where John Phillips got his daughter hooked on drugs and her decades-long fight against her addictions (which she seemed to be losing as late as 2008, when she pleaded guilty to a cocaine possession charge) would have ensured that High On Arrival topped the bestsellers lists.

People magazine printed excerpts from the book previous to Phillips' appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." One segment described how she "shot up" for the first time. John Phillips did it, completely missing her vein and making her arm go numb. Another excerpt described the alleged rape on her wedding day (to her first husband). And still another described John Phillips' drug-infused plans for he and Mackenzie to run off and live together where their relationship would not be looked upon disparagingly.

Mackenzie Phillips' admission that the sex between her and her father became consensual over time might have been the real shocker had she not taken the story one step further. She said she became pregnant and could not be certain if the child was her husband's or her father's. She told Oprah that after the abortion, she "never let him touch [her] again."

But which would have been more shocking? That Mackenzie Phillips aborted the "love child" she had created with her father? Or that they may have had children together and Mackenzie Phillips had chosen "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to tell the children who their real father was? It seems that Mackenzie may have shunted her story one twist too soon.

It isn't that her story is unbelievable, but that there is no real corroboration. John Phillips died in 2001.

Her sister, Chynna Phillips, says that she was informed of the incestuous affair in 1997. She believes her sister. "I mean," she told Us Weekly, "who in their right mind would make such a claim if it wasn't true?"

Indeed.

One person who doesn't believe her is her own mother. Michelle Phillips, who was married to John Phillips for eight years, said that John was a drug addict and a terrible parent, but having sex with his daughter? She believes that Mackenzie is simply trying to sell books. According to The Hollywood Gossip, Michelle said, "The whole thing is timed... Mackenzie is jealous of her siblings, who have accomplished a lot and did not become drug addicts."

Maybe mom Michelle would have believed her had she stopped with the heroin-induced rape on her wedding night. Now, she just thinks Mackenzie needs a good therapist.

Apparently using Oprah's couch for a confession was not the kind Michelle believes she needs...

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Sources:

Usmagazine.com
People.com
TheHollywoodGossip.com