I watch a lot of talk shows, including the Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah covers a lot of ground on her show: health with Dr. Oz, finances with Suze Orman, fitness with Bob Greene, interior decorating with Nate Berkus. She’s even covered those unusual topics like “compulsive hoarding”. I thought the hoarding shows were kind of unsettling. Yesterday, however, the Oprah show reached a new level of disturbing. Unfortunately, I tuned in and stumbled upon a topic that I did not want to learn more about, courtesy of Mackenzie Phillips, daughter of John Phillips of the Mamas & the Papas. On the show, Mackenzie reveals the secret that she’s kept for years and written about in her new book, High on Arrival. Mackenzie claims that, on the night before her wedding, she was raped by her father. If that wasn’t horrifying enough, she goes on to reveal that it eventually became “consensual” incest that lasted for ten years. Meaning consensual sex between father and daughter.

Ew.

That’s when I turned off the television. Apparently, Oprah decided that we’re done with “living our best lives“. Forget Eckhart Tolle and our spiritual awakening. We’ve now moved on to consensual sex with fathers.

I find it alarming that anyone would go on record with this kind of personal family secret. I know a girl’s gotta sell books, but is this the kind of shock we need in order to buy a book nowadays? True or not, right or wrong…some stories are just better left untold.

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Nancy DeGregorio

Latest posts by Nancy DeGregorio (Posts)

• My two-week career: tales from the working world - November 18, 2011
• Emails from my mother - May 9, 2011
• Time to buy a leash…for my child - April 25, 2011
• Preschool nightmares - October 6, 2010
• A summer of fun, photos, Facebook status updates, and lies - September 2, 2010

Tags: family & parenting, television // 2 Comments »