Chynna Phillips Speaks About Mackenzie's Allegations, and Her New Album

Phillips believes Mackenzie but says there is no way to "corroborate" her story.

ByABC News via logo
September 30, 2009, 3:14 PM

Oct. 1, 2009— -- Chynna Phillips said she "completely shut down" when sister Mackenzie Phillips told her about the alleged 10-year incestuous relationship with their father, John Phillips, 13 years ago. But now the singer said she hopes her new album and her sister's book bring some "healing" to the world.

"I'm still struggling with it. It's going to be a lifelong journey for me," Chynna Phillips said. "It's a terrible, terrible thing."

Despite stating that she believes her sister, Chynna said she could not vouch for Mackenzie's version of the story in her new book, "High on Arrival."

"I cannot say that everything is just as it is written in the book. Because she admittedly was on drugs. So there's no way for me to be able to corroborate," Chynna said.

The former star of the '70s sitcom "One Day at a Time" said that she was first raped by her father, the late lead singer of the Mamas and the Papas, in a hotel room when she was 18 while passed out after a drug binge.

Although Chynna has known about the alleged relationship for years, Mackenzie did not tell Chynna about her tell-all book until after "the train had already left the station."

"She came up and she told me that she was going to be -- that the book was basically already written," Chynna said. "And that she was going to be writing about the incestuous relationship between she and my father."

Michelle Phillips, Mackenzie's stepmother and a former member of the band the Mamas and Papas, has publicly rebuked Mackenzie's allegations.

Michelle Phillips told the Hollywood Reporter that Mackenzie had "a lot of mental illness" and that "she's had a needle stuck up her arm for 35 years."

"Mackenzie is jealous of her siblings, who have accomplished a lot and did not become drug addicts," Michelle said.

Chynna acknowledged the family conflict but said she would not participate in it.

"There's a lot of animosity there. A lot of resentment," Phillips said. "Because I've always said that resentment is like drinking a ton of poison and waiting for the other person to die."