John Phillips’ 5 Children: What to Know About the Musical Family’s Ups and Downs (2024)

John Phillips had a complicated relationship with his five children as he struggled with drug addiction throughout his life.

The Mamas & the Papas singer was a father to Jeffery and Mackenzie Philips with his first wife, Susan Adams, and later welcomed daughter Chynna Phillips with his bandmate, Michelle Phillips. John eventually married Geneviève Waïte with whom he had son Tamerlane and daughter Bijou Phillips.

John died on March 18, 2001, at 65 years old. Eight years later, Mackenzie wrote a memoir that exposed her decade-long incestuous relationship with her father, which led to splintering within the siblings’ relationships.

While Bijou told Oprah Magazine that she did not experience any sexual abuse from her father, Chynna supported her sister for having the “courage to come out and talk about her past,” she told Oprah in 2009.

Here’s everything to know about John Phillips’ relationship with his five kids.

John had his children with three different partners

In 1957, John married his first wife Susan Adams. The same year, they welcomed their first child, Jeffrey. On Nov. 10, 1959, Mackenzie, née Laura Mackenzie Phillips, was born. Just a few years later, John met his second wife and future bandmate, Michelle Phillips. Though he was still married to Susan, he began an affair with the then-teenage Michelle, which ultimately led to his split from Susan and a new marriage.

The two got married on Dec. 31, 1962, and welcomed their only child together, Chynna, on Feb. 12, 1968. However, they split a year later amid Michelle’s ongoing affair with their Mamas & the Papas bandmate Denny Doherty.

In 1972, John married his third wife Geneviéve Waïte and they had two children: Tamerlane and Bijou, who was born on April 1, 1980.

Mackenzie was a child star

Mackenzie earned her first role in 1973’s American Graffiti when she was just 12 years old. From there, her career took off and she landed a recurring role on One Day at a Time opposite Valerie Bertinelli in her teenage years.

When she was 13 years old, Mackenzie ran away from home to live with her dad, who at the time was deep in the throes of his drug addiction and regularly snorting cocaine in front of her.

“Dad gave me my own wing of the mansion. I was supposed to go to school, but sometimes I had to hitchhike because nobody was awake or willing to drive me,” she wrote in her 2009 memoir High on Arrival. “I was allowed to go to school on acid if I wanted, and Dad signed papers on which I'd write excuses. I never dared write ‘Please excuse Laura from school as everyone is just too f----- up.’ ”

Ultimately, Mackenzie’s own drug use led to her firing off the show and the end of her friendship with Bertinelli.

“When it became clear that I was bad press, not to mention a bad influence, Valerie started backing off,” she wrote in her book. “I can't blame her. It makes sense to detach from someone who's having so many crazy problems. But it hurt me. I always loved her. I still do.”

Now, after getting clean in the early aughts, Mackenzie is focused on being a drug rehab counselor in California.

Chynna is part of the girl group Wilson Phillips

Chynna followed her father’s footsteps into music when she formed the band Wilson Phillips alongside her childhood friends, Carnie and Wendy Wilson, who are the daughters of Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson. The group came together in the late 1980s and they performed together through the 1990s.

As of 2020, the trio continued to get together once a month to perform shows, they shared on The Kelly Clarkson Show in May 2020.

Bijou was married to actor Danny Masterson

Bijou is John’s youngest child and has had a career in the spotlight since her birth. She became a model from an early age and was on the cover of Interview Magazine at 13. However, she ultimately decided to choose her education over modeling at the time.

"I was like 13," she told Howard Stern in 2000. "And my dad was like, 'You can go to New York and model or you can stay in boarding school.' "

When she was 17, Bijou released an album, I’d Rather Eat Glass, but didn’t continue with a music career afterward. She also worked in Hollywood in her 20s, starring in James Toback's drama Black and White. Her costars included Robert Downey Jr. and Jared Leto. In 2000, she was cast in the musical hit Almost Famous, appearing opposite Kate Hudson and Billy Crudup.

Bijou married That ‘70s Show alum Danny Masterson in October 2011 and the two welcomed a daughter, Fianna Francis, on Feb. 14, 2014. She filed for divorce from the actor, however, in September 2023 after he was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison since being found guilty of two counts of rape in May of that year.

"This period has been unimaginably hard on the marriage and the family. Mr. Masterson was always present for Ms. Phillips during her most difficult times of her life. Ms. Phillips acknowledges that Mr. Masterson is a wonderful father to their daughter," her lawyer, Peter A. Lauzon, told TMZ following the sentencing.

The next month Masterson signed over full legal and physical custody of their daughter to Bijou.

Jeffrey and Tamerlane have mainly stayed out of the spotlight

John’s two sons have majorly stayed out of the public eye, though Tamerlane appears to have a few acting credits. Tamerlane appeared in three roles between 2010 and 2012, including Adam’s Truth, per IMDb.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey appeared on his sister Chynna’s YouTube channel California Preachin’ in January 2021. He reflected on growing up as the son of the musician in the studio with The Mamas & the Papas and his relationship with his father.

He told his sister that when John died, he felt “blank” because he was comforted by his beliefs in where people go after they die.

“I loved him very much but I already firmly believed in the next world,” he said. “All I felt for him was love.”

Mackenzie accused her dad of sexual abuse and alleged an incestuous relationship

In her 2009 memoir High on Arrival, Mackenzie wrote for the first time about the incestuous relationship she had with her father. She described how they first had sex when she was 19 years old on the eve of her wedding. She wrote that both were high on pills and she woke up from a blackout to find that her father was having sex with her before sliding back into a blackout.

“Months later: I said, ‘Dad, we have to talk about how you raped me,’ ” she wrote in the book. “He said, ‘Raped you? You mean when we made love?’ That statement captures my father. If sex happened between a father and daughter, and nobody protested, there was no problem.”

She added that the relationship ended after it was on and off for a decade when she became pregnant and wasn’t sure whether it was her father’s baby, leading to an abortion.

Mackenzie said while John was on his deathbed in 2001, she did end up forgiving him for the relationship, telling him, “‘We've been through a lot. You know what I'm talking about ... I would not be the woman I am had I not been your daughter. So I want you to know that I forgive you, and I love you very, very much.’ "

Mackenzie’s siblings took different stances on her accusations

The rest of the Phillips siblings struggled to reconcile their notions of their father with Mackenzie’s accusations. Chynna joined Mackenzie on The Oprah Show and said that she was supportive of her sister’s need to share her story, however, she wasn’t thrilled with the attention it brought to her deceased father.

“Am I exceedingly joyful that my family secret that I told maybe my therapist, my husband and my very best friend in the whole world [is now public]? No,” Chynna said.

This was not the first time either of Mackenzie’s sisters heard about her accusations, however, they were both still struck by her choice to share them.

“I was completely stunned,” Chynna said of when Mackenzie first shared the secret. “I walked around in a comatose state for about 10 days.”

Bijou, for her part, was told about the relationship when she was 13 years old, which led to trauma for the then-teenager who lived with John at the time.

“When I was 13, Mackenzie told me that she had a consensual sexual relationship with our father. This news was confusing and scary, as I lived alone with my father since I was 3, I didn’t know what to believe and it didn’t help that shortly thereafter Mackenzie told me it didn’t happen …,” she said in a statement to The Oprah Show.

She continued, “I understand Mackenzie’s need to come clean with a history she feels will help others, but it’s devastating to have the world watch as we try and mend broken fences, especially when the man in question isn’t here to defend himself.”

Chynna and Mackenzie have found ways to forgive their father

Nearly 15 years after Mackenzie’s allegations against her father, the former actress joined Chynna on her YouTube channel in December 2023 where the two talked about how they’ve forgiven their father in the years since his death.

"Dad was something else," she said. "I get a lot of criticism and a lot of trolling online for having forgiveness in my heart. Forgiveness, because forgiving is for me, not for the other person. And forgiving doesn't mean I cosign or agree with what I'm forgiving him for."

She added that the situation and their romantic relationship were “very complicated,” but she is since “at peace.”

Chynna chimed in and added that she also saw some of John’s demons throughout her own relationship with her father, though he was never sexually abusive.

"Obviously, he's an amazing songwriter and, you know I loved his laugh, and yet there was this whole other side to dad that was, I mean, kind of, like a monster. He was so dark, and you just didn't know who you were going to get. It was very unpredictable," she said.