Mackenzie gets a second wind
Actress’ career has had a resurgence following a struggle with addiction and alleged sexual abuse at the hands of her father
Mackenzie Phillips, who’s upending expectations with her portrayal of a brutal inmate on Orange is the New Black, deserves another look off-screen as well.
Phillips has battled addiction and made disturbing sexual abuse allegations well before such revelations were common, and she’s forthright when asked to look back at those dark chapters.
But it’s the work that’s keeping her busy and fulfilled now — whether acting or helping people address addiction at a Southern California treatment facility — that she’d rather concentrate on.
Her personal life also is “fantastic,” she said, including her relationships with her half-siblings (actress Bijou Phillips and singer Chynna Phillips are among them).
There was conflicting family reaction when Phillips alleged sexual abuse by her father, the late John Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas musical fame, in her 2009 memoir High on Arrival.
Phillips, 58, who gained fame in the 1970s on the sitcom One Day at a Time but lost the role as fallout from her drug and alcohol use, appears on the Netflix reboot as leader of a veterans support group. On Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, Phillips is nearly unrecognisable as Barbara, whose face shows her cruelty and self-destructiveness.
Drugs also are part of the character’s life, a real-life parallel that Phillips addressed during an interview. Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.
You mentioned viewers have been taken aback by how you look playing Barbara. Any hesitation to take the part because of ego?
No, because it’s a character. And I’m a woman of a certain age who hasn’t had any plastic surgery and plans to keep it that way. Consider this: Had I been Botox’d and nipped and tucked and lifted, they never would have hired me. I’m very proud of my age because I never thought I would live this long.
Did you feel removed enough from your own drug use to play an addicted character?
People said, ‘Weren’t you triggered by snorting fake drugs?’ I was like, ‘No, I was absolutely filled with the deepest gratitude