PHIL OF $#!&
TV psycho-cologist faces rage rap from staff
DR. PHIL might need some anger management himself.
Popular TV shrink Phil McGraw locked roughly 300 staff members in a room and angrily grilled them about information that had been leaked to the media, a bombshell lawsuit alleges.
Former employee Leah Rothman — a segment director on the “Dr. Phil” show for 12 years — says she was called into work on an off day last March, forced to turn off her phone, herded into a room guarded by McGraw’s security team with her co-workers and berated by the 65-year-old TV host.
“If you f--- with me, I’ll f--- with you,” McGraw told the staff, the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit says.
To make matters worse, Rothman claims McGraw (right) already knew which employee had leaked the information — and that the harrowing meeting was nothing more than a twisted scare tactic.
McGraw allegedly even read from cue cards during the heated meeting — leading Rothman to believe he had planned the confrontation for a while.
Rothman said she sought help from human relations to no avail, then quit her job last April, claiming the emotional stress caused by McGraw’s frightening confrontation became too much to bear.
She is now suing the TV celebrity for false imprisonment and emotional distress — as well as wrongful constructive termination and whistleblower retaliation.
The nature of the allegedly leaked information is unknown — but Dr. Phil did reportedly fire an employee last year for sharing his exclusive interview with Bobbi Kristina Brown’s former boyfriend Nick Gordon with a British newspaper before it aired on his show.
A rep for Dr. Phil did not respond to a request for comment.