Mackenzie Phillips

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Mackenzie Phillips, as Julie Cooper on One Day at a Time.

Laura Mackenzie Phillips (born November 10, 1959 in Alexandria, Virginia) is an American actress and singer.

She is the daughter of The Mamas and the Papas' lead singer John Phillips and Susan Adams (aka Suzy January), a socialite. She was also the stepdaughter of group member Michelle Phillips, half-sister to Bijou Phillips and Chynna Phillips (all three have different mothers).

She was named in honor of her father's friend, songwriting collaborator and performing partner, Scott Mckenzie.

As a child, the biggest names in pop culture visited her house such as Tommy James from the band The Shondells, Neil Diamond, John Sebastian and Barry McGuire.

Mackenzie began to use drugs at an early age. She began to smoke marijuana and use LSD at the age of twelve, and was taught how to shoot up heroin by her father at the age of eighteen.

Her first major acting role was the part of "Carol" in American Graffiti (1973). In 1975, she started playing "boy-crazy girl" Julie Cooper on the TV sitcom One Day at a Time. This was her most famous role.

During her run on One Day at a Time, she became addicted to cocaine. This, coupled with an alcohol problem, caused her to be late for tapings, or sometimes miss them entirely. This got a lot of coverage in the press, and the executive producer of the show fired her in 1980 when she refused to get help. She returned to the show from a rehabilitation center in 1981 but eventually became addicted again. She was fired for good in 1983 and did not return to the show before it was canceled.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, she attempted and eventually succeeded in getting over her drug problem with the help of her father, who was also a recovering addict. She was asked to play a substance abuse counselor on Beverly Hills 90210 in 1994 (when Luke Perry's character was suffering from drug addiction) and on Guiding Light in 1996 (when she tried to help Cynthia Watros' character, Annie Dutton. through her drug problem).

Today she is a budding singer and has starred with Cara DeLizia on the Disney Channel series So Weird as rock star "Molly Phillips", performing numerous songs in her own right. She also guest-starred as a singer on Caroline in the City.

[edit] Personal life

She was married three times. Her first husband was Jeff Sessler from 1978-1980, which ended in divorce. Her second husband was Michael Barakan, with whom she has a son Shane born in 1987. The marriage lasted from 1996 to 2000, but it also ended in divorce. Her third husband is music conductor Keith Levensen, whom she married in June 2005.