In 1981, Mackenzie Phillips and her father John Phillips had both gotten sober — although that sobriety wouldn’t last long for either. According to an interview with People, during the year she was fired from One Day at a Time, she had spent hundreds of thousands on drugs. Her father’s habit had grown far worse; he admitted to spending $1 million a year on heroin and cocaine for himself and Genevieve Waite, his third wife.
“I don’t know where it went, but $300,000 to $400,000 is gone, mostly for drugs,” she told the magazine. “I mean, half a million in cash is gone!”
By 2014, Mackenzie Phillips had been to rehab 11 times. As she told People, her final time came when she realized she had hit bottom — and the path that lay ahead did not have a happy ending. “I thought, How many more times does the universe have to knock on the door of my consciousness and say, ‘Hey Phillips, wake up?'” she said.
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