Mackenzie Phillips Reflects on Past Drug Use and Reconciliation With Valerie Bertinelli

Mackenzie Phillips said she and Valerie Bertinelli drove to Phillips’ house during lunch breaks on the set of One Day at a Time, got in the pool, drank wine and snorted cocaine. The CBS sitcom ran from 1975 to 1984, with Phillips playing Julie Cooper and Bertinelli playing Barbara Cooper. Phillips told Fox News Digital that Bertinelli has spoken openly about that period.

She added that Bertinelli did not have the kind of addiction Phillips had. Phillips said the two also used cocaine together in the dressing room. She stated she was the one who got caught using drugs.

The actress appeared on the Behind the Velvet Rope podcast in 2022. During that appearance she said she and Bertinelli were teenagers at the time and later became women of a certain age who loved each other and the people they worked with. Phillips said her addiction complicated the friendship for years.

She recalled driving over Coldwater Canyon, calling Bertinelli and leaving voicemails to report that she was six months sober or a year sober. Phillips said she was patient because she knew she had a lot of repair to do in the friendship. She added that one day Bertinelli returned the call.

In April 2025 Phillips posted a tribute on Instagram for Bertinelli’s 65th birthday. The post read: “Happy Birthday, Val! Now we’re both 65. I love you. ” Phillips told Fox News Digital that faith and the strength her history has given her keep her grounded.

She said she does not want people to feel sorry for her because everything she went through made her the woman she is today. Phillips said if she could erase parts of her past she might not be who she is and that she feels very blessed. She wrote the memoir High on Arrival and the book Hopeful Healing.

Phillips said she has high resilience and had no choice but to be resilient or die. She has worked as a counselor and manager at Breathe Life Healing Centers. In a 2019 interview with UCHealth Today, Phillips said she found a way out of addiction and feels beholden to share the good news.

She also said purpose is key for her, that she has strong passion and purpose, shows up, is a good employee and is a hard worker. Phillips had a role on Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black. She said playing a character struggling with substance abuse never felt triggering to her.

Phillips said she had been under a misconception when she stated in her book that the issues with her father were consensual because she had been groomed. She said there is no consent between a parent and a child because the power differential is so different.