Michelle Phillips is the last surviving member of legendary folk band The Mamas and the Papas.
Last week, on Wednesday, June 11, the "California Dreamin'" singer, who is now 81 years old, made a rare public appearance, as she was seen at a Los Angeles gas station refueling her Mercedes Benz.
The Dillinger actress has a storied past largely emblematic of the rollercoaster 1960s and 1970s, from rocky relationships, band drama, affairs and more. Revisit some of them below.
© GettyBecoming Phillips
Michelle was born Holly Michelle Gilliam on June 4, 1944, in Long Beach, California, but became Phillips when she married her future Mamas and the Papas band member John Phillips on December 31, 1962, when she was 18 years old and he was 27. He left his first wife Susan Adams, who he married in 1957 and with whom he had two kids, for Michelle.
Affairs lead to temporary firing
Michelle and John's marriage was tumultuous from the start, but the tumult peaked when he discovered she had had an affair with founding member of fellow legendary folk band The Byrds Gene Clark in 1966. The revelation interrupted recording of their second album, and came just a year after she had another affair, with none other than their band member Denny Doherty. John subsequently served Michelle a letter firing her from the band, but she was eventually reinstated.
© GettyLove triangles
Both Michelle and Denny have addressed their band's love triangles, both in interviews and through song, particularly "I Saw Her Again," which Denny wrote about his affair with Michelle. Per his 2007 Times obituary, he told the paper in 2000: "It was an untenable situation," adding: "Cass wanted me, I wanted Michelle, John wanted Michelle, Michelle wanted me, she wanted her freedom," referring to fellow band member Cass Elliott, who passed away aged 32 in 1974.
"The four of us would sit around, saying, 'O.K., you're gonna sing the third,' and 'You're gonna do the bop da bops,' and there'd be so much sexual energy between Denny and me that we'd be playing footsie under the table, and Cass and John didn't notice it," Michelle told Vanity Fair in 2007. She also shared, per People: "Cass confronted me and said, 'I don't get it. You could have any man you want. Why would you take mine?'"
© Getty ImagesDefending John
In 2009, eight years after John's death (he and Michelle divorced in 1969), his daughter with his first wife, Mackenzie Phillips, alleged that she and her father had had a ten-year incestuous and abusive relationship, during which he allegedly raped her, drugged her, and she became pregnant, a pregnancy she terminated with the help of her dad.
Genevieve Waite, John's wife at the time, denied the allegations, as did Michelle. Her daughter with John, Chynna Phillips, stood by Mackenzie, and maintained she shared the allegations with her in 1997, 11 years after the alleged incestuous relationship ended and over ten years before she made them public.
© WireImageFamily tree
Michelle has an interesting family tree that branches throughout Hollywood. Her daughter with John, Chynna, has been married to William Baldwin since 1995, making her a sister-in-law to Alec Baldwin.
Moreover, Chynna and Mackenzie are half-sisters with Bijou Phillips, John's daughter with Genevieve, who has said Mackenzie told her of her alleged relationship with her father when she was a teenager but has since said she doesn't believe them. In 2011, she married That 70s Show alum Danny Masterson, who is currently serving a sentence of 30 years to life in prison after he was convicted of two counts of forcible rape in May 2023; they separated that year.
