John Phillips and Roman Polanski: Men behaving beyond badly
Roman Polanski: Tortured soul and sexual predator
Not surprisingly, One Day at a Time star Mackenzie Phillips’ recent announcement that she had “consensual” sexual relations with her father, the late Mamas & Papas singer and notorious drug abuser, John Phillips, has fired up her much-extended family. Stepmom Michelle Phillips (an original Mama and classic ’70s siren) doesn’t buy it. Michelle’s daughter and Mackenzie’s half-sister, singer Chynna, does. Half-sister Bijou balks, while half-brother Tamerlane, mumbling a semi-coherent rant about deceased Indian yogi Nityananda, simply indicates that something went horribly wrong at home. Meanwhile, another Papa’s child, Jessica Woods, has weighed in, stating that her own dad, Denny Doherty, told her this sad story was true: John had confided in him.
Once we get past the clearly false idea of “consensual” sex between a father and child–Pop is the power player, no matter how old the child–how do we sort through the family layers? My own instinct is to believe Mackenzie, to support anyone who steps forth with such horrendous charges. Where relatives are concerned: These violent acts/accusations often split the family.
Then there is the brilliant director Roman Polanski, a guy with a tortured past (Holocaust survivor, husband of a Manson victim), who also just happened to rape a 13-year-old child. Oh yeah, maybe she’d already had sex–you know those wild and crazy pre-teens–and now the woman he abused so many years ago, Samantha Geimer, says she forgives him. But should we let Polanski, finally apprehended after 31 years, off the hook?
I don’t think there are laws on the books to cover the Phillips debacle. But there are laws governing the actions of grown men when it comes to sexual relations with underage kids. Everyone, including Hollywood icons, should be held accountable. As Polanski victim Geimer, an adult in full command of her memories, said in 2003 : “Straight up, what he did to me was wrong.”
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Technical point, 13 is not a preteen. Really Susan you’re making quite a leap grouping in John Phillips and Roman Polanski together
I’m not sure it’s a big leap. In each case you had adult men, well into adulthood, exerting power over girls for their own sexual satisfaction. And this whole idea that Polanski should walk because Geimer now forgives him — well, that’s great, but a lot of domestic violence victims also “forgive” their assailants, so what are we to make of that?
Perhaps a more appropriate grouping is Roman Polanski and Michael Jackson. Certainly, in both cases there were many, many people willing to justify what they did because of their art and troubled backgrounds.
“but a lot of domestic violence victims also “forgive” their assailants, so what are we to make of that?”
Not the same thing at all, often when a victim of domestic violence “forgives” their abuser it’s because of fear of economic insecurity or a deep emotional problem. Also such “forgiveness just puts the victim at further risk for violence, the same cannot be said here. You’re comparing apples and oranges on that score. Don’t get me wrong I’m not condoning what Polanski did but over thirty years later to be arresting the man seems to me to serve little purpose other than to create headlines.
Yes, I also tend to believe Mackenzie. But as a biographer who has been forced to vet memoirs carefully while researching my books, I can attest that many, perhaps most, memoirists lie or at minimum exaggerate. As a way of reaching the truth about the Phillips case, I wonder if irrefutable evidence–DNA material, non-altered photos–exists.
[...] the U.S., Roman Polanski was arrested this weekend, and is now facing extradition to be sentenced for having sex with a 13 year old back in 1977. First of all, I don’t have much sympathy for child-f*ckers, even if they have [...]
I met 2 of the Mamas and the Papas, but not John. I have to say, judging from things they said – and from the evidence of his own memoir which catalogs an addict’s appalling behavior in detail – I’m inclined to believe MacKenzie. On the other hand, I’m always suspicious of revelation as promotion. She’s flogging a book, yall, probably the only shot she has left at garnering attention.