Grid ma claims tragic TV ‘lies’

THE MOTHER of a former college football star and NFL player who killed himself in prison has sued Showtime over a documentary that linked his death to a childhood filled with neglect.

Juanita Phillips, mother of late running back Lawrence Phillips, alleges in her lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court Tuesday that her son’s decline was actually related to concussions suffered on the gridiron.

She seeks defamation damages to be determined from Showtime for the December 2016 documentary, “Lawrence Phillips, Running for his Life.”

In January 2016, Phillips — a star player for the University of Nebraska in the 1990s who played for the Rams, Dolphins and 49ers — hanged himself in a California prison cell. He had been accused of killing his cellmate while doing time for domestic violence.

The documentary reported that as a boy, Phillips (photo) had been abused by a man his mother was dating.

“When Lawrence was in fifth grade his relationship with his mother was so poor and Lawrence was so scared of being home,” an ex-girlfriend said in the film.

Juanita Phillips, 63, claims the doc aired “blatantly fabricated” claims she had neglected her son.

The documentary should have explored the influence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), she says. The degenerative brain condition has been linked to mood shifts and violence. Phillips’ brain was donated to CTE researchers after his death. Showtime declined to comment on the suit.