I think it's clear that everyone pretty much feels revulsion about that part of the story. John Phillips was pretty screwed up and he was never going to win any parenting awards, even before this latest revelation.
It's not that I don't feel compassion. I just do not want to hear about this stuff. I'm sorry she got a raw deal. I guess I'd feel more compassion for her if it didn't seem like a) she was still using drugs (from all accounts I've read, she did behave as if she was still using), b) that she is using her crummy childhood to make money and c) that she feels the need to go on national television and talk about
having intercourse with her father, rather than dealing with it quietly and off camera.
At what point did it become acceptable for NOTHING to be kept private?
I understand that people have bad childhoods. I also know a number of people who, well into their 40's and beyond, are still using it as an excuse. I worked with a woman who burst into tears at the slightest criticism. She always talked about how her father yelled at her when she did anything remotely wrong. Well, that sucks, but you know what? She's 48 years old and has never been to therapy to work on that, even though many have urged her to. It's harder to have sympathy for people who can't help themselves.
MacKenzie got screwed where childhoods are concerned, but you don't see her other siblings running to Oprah about their dad. From what I've read, the audience at Oprah wasn't too much on her side either. Sounds like she just made everyone really uncomfortable. There certainly have been enough people on Oprah who revealed some pretty dark things about themselves and they didn't get that reation. Didn't that other woman - the one who wrote the book about having a sexual relationship with her father - go on Oprah and talk about it? I don't remember this kind of reaction to her (even from me!

).