Mackenzie Phillips looks back on her years on ‘One Day at a Time’ with honesty, humor and a clearer understanding of what was going on behind the scenes.
The 66-year-old actress, who starred as Julie Cooper on the hit sitcom opposite Valerie Bertinelli, told Fox News Digital that one of her memories from the show’s run may still surprise fans.
“Oh, I don’t know. Oh, I understand. So you might be surprised to find out that during our lunch break, Valerie and I drove home, went to the pool, drank wine, and smoked cokes,” Phillips said.
Phillips quickly revealed that Bertinelli himself had been candid about the time.
“But Valerie is open about it, so I’m not hiding her secret,” she said. “The thing is, I was like, you know, Valerie didn’t have the addictions that I had. She didn’t have the addictions either.”
The former child star said drugs were also present behind the scenes of the sitcom.
“So we were drinking Coke together in the dressing room,” Phillips said. “It just happened that I got caught. It’s all thanks to God that I got caught, do you understand?”
Phillips and Bertinelli became famous for playing teenage sisters on the CBS sitcom One Day at a Time, which aired from 1975 to 1984. Phillips played the rebellious older sister Julie, and Bertinelli played the younger sister Barbara Cooper.
The two are close in age and grew up together under the glow of sitcom fame. However, their real-life friendship lasted much longer than on the show.
During an appearance on the Behind the Velvet Rope podcast in 2022, Phillips reflected on why his bond with Bertinelli lasted long after their teenage years in Hollywood.
“We were teenagers, now women of a certain age, and we loved each other,” Phillips said at the time. “We loved the people we worked with. We were family.”
Phillips acknowledged that her addiction had complicated that bond over the years.
“You know, we definitely had a period where I was insane and Valerie seemed to be okay,” she said.
The actress recalled that during her early sobriety years, she reached out to Bertinelli many times, even though she knew the friendship needed time to heal.
“There was a time when I was driving over Coldwater Canyon and I knew where Val and Ed lived and I called them and left them a voicemail and said I drove past their house. I just drove past their house and I want you to know I’ve been sober for six months. I want you to know that I’ve been sober for a year,” Phillips said.
She said she did not expect Mr. Bertinelli to respond so quickly.
“I was just holding back because I knew I had a lot of work to do,” Phillips said. “And I said you don’t have to call me back, I just want you to know that I’m thinking of you and that I love you. One day, the phone rang.”
This friendship remains an important part of Phillips’ life. In April 2025, Phillips posted a happy birthday to Bertinelli on Instagram, writing, “Happy birthday, Val! We’re both 65 now. We love you. ❤️ #sisters #odaat #soberaf #family #medicare 🥳.”
For Phillips, the ability to talk about her past without being consumed by it is part of the resilience that has kept her going, she says.
When asked in an interview with Fox News Digital what keeps her grounded today, Phillips cited her faith and perspective.
“What keeps me grounded is my faith and just knowing how strong and powerful and empowering my history has been,” Phillips said.
She said people sometimes react with pity to her life story, but she doesn’t see it that way.
“Someone said, ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry for everything you’ve been through,'” Phillips recalled. “And I thought, don’t pity me, everything I went through, even though it was horribly difficult, made me the woman I am.”
Phillips said she doesn’t believe you can erase parts of your past and still be the same person.
“So if I could go back and remove just this part, I might not be the person I am now,” she said. “And I feel very blessed in my life.”
The actress has been candid about addiction, trauma, and recovery for years. Phillips is the daughter of the late Mamas and Papas musician John Phillips and his first wife Susan Adams. She wrote about her life in her memoir, High on Exhibition, and later explored recovery in Hopeful Healing.
In a conversation with Fox News Digital, Phillips said resilience is central to her understanding of life.
“So I think about resilience on kind of a spectrum,” she said.
Phillips said she believes she falls into the latter category.
“I have a lot of resilience,” she said. “The love of my son, my family, my sisters. Even though that relationship has been very difficult for a long time, I just believe. I have strong beliefs. And, I mean, I had no choice. Get back up or die.”
Phillips also used her recovery to help others. In addition to acting, she has worked in the field of addiction and recovery, including as a counselor and manager at Breeze Life Healing Center.
In a 2019 interview with UCHealth Today, Phillips talked about finding purpose through his work.
“Now that I have found a way out, I feel obligated to share the good news,” she told the outlet.
She also said purpose is key to continued recovery.
“Purpose is important to me. I have really strong passion and purpose right now. I show up. I’m a really good employee. I’m a hard worker,” Phillips told UCHealth Today.
Phillips has continued to act in recent years, appearing on Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black,” while also working on recovery from addiction and counseling.
Looking back, she said she never felt inspired to play a character struggling with substance abuse.
“People used to say to me, ‘Oh my God,’ you must have been so excited,” Phillips recalled on the “Behind the Velvet Rope” podcast. “I thought it didn’t come from living with someone else.”
Still, Phillips knows that many people continue to associate her most closely with the most painful events of her past.
When asked by Fox News Digital what people still misunderstand about her story, Phillips pointed out that her relationship with her father was sometimes portrayed.
“First of all, when I said in the book that the issue with my father was consensual, I was under the impression that I was misunderstanding it at length,” Phillips said. “I had been groomed so thoroughly that I felt like it was my fault that this happened.”
She said her understanding changed with time and recovery.
“I’ve been drugged and groomed, and now I realize there’s such a difference in power that there’s no consent between parent and child,” Phillips said.
Phillips said survivors often feel pressure to protect those who have harmed them.
“And I worked hard to protect the perpetrator. That’s what survivors do. They protect the perpetrator and then the victim is vilified,” she said. “So I thought I’d write another book and call it ‘All I Have Left’.”
