Facts about Mackenzie Phillips
Mackenzie Phillips Biography
Mackenzie Phillps is the actress who starred as a troubled teenager in the sitcom One Day At a Time, then was fired from the show for being a troubled teenager in real life. Phillips was the daughter of musician John Phillips, the founder of The Mamas and The Papas, and socialite Suzy Adams. Mackenzie was cast at age 12 in the hit 1973 film American Graffiti as the gawky and annoying teen who connects with drag racer John Millner. That led to her role in One Day at a Time as Julie Cooper, the headstrong and boy-crazy daughter of a harried single mother. The show ran for 205 episodes from 1975-1984, but Phillips was arrested for cocaine possession in 1978, grew ever more erratic, and was fired from the show in 1980. She returned to the show in 1981 but, still having drug and alcohol problems, was again let go in 1983. After a lost decade of sorts, she entered long-term drug rehab in 1992. She returned to acting a few years later, most notably playing a rocker-turned-mother in the Disney series So Weird (1999-2001). She was again arrested for cocaine possession in 2008. The next year she published a memoir, High on Arrival, in which she claimed that her father got her hooked on drugs as a teen and began a sexual relationship with her in 1979. Her films include Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins (1975), More American Graffiti (1979), True Friends (1998) and The Jacket (2005).
Extra credit
Phillips married Jeff Sessler, a crew member for The Rolling Stones, in 1979. They were divorced in 1981. She married the musician Michael Barakan in 1996. They had one son, Shane, and divorced in 2000. She married the film and theater composer Keith Levenson in 2005… She is named for Scott Mackenzie, who co-wrote with John Phillips the singles “Kokomo” and “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)”… He half-sister Bijou Phillips is also an actress. Another half-sister, Chynna Phillips, fronted the 1990s pop group Wilson Phillips.