Mackenzie Phillips, known for her role as Julie Cooper in the popular CBS sitcom One Day at a Time alongside Valerie Bertinelli, recently shared a behind-the-scenes detail that might surprise fans who weren’t already aware of her tumultuous past.
“So this might surprise you that during lunch break, Valerie and I would drive to my house, get in the pool, drink wine, and snort coke,” the 66-year-old recently told Fox News.
Perhaps thinking she’d seemed to step over the line, Phillips pointed out that her former sitcom co-star has been open about their past struggles with drugs.
“But Valerie talks about it openly, so it’s not like I’m pulling her covers or anything,” she quickly added. “The thing was that I was the, you know, Valerie didn’t have the kind of addiction that I had, she didn’t have addiction.”
The former child star also revealed that the sitcom’s coke use didn’t end at lunch breaks.
“And you know, so we would do coke together in the dressing room and stuff,” Phillips added. “I just happened to be the one that got caught. And thank God I got caught, you know?”
Phillips and Bertinelli played the teenage sisters Julie and Barbara Cooper on the CBS sitcom One Day at a Time from 1975 to 1984. Close in age, they grew up in the spotlight, and their real-life friendship outlasted the show’s run.
Despite their wild past, their friendship remains solid. Phillips even gave Bertinelli a witty shout-out for her 65th birthday on Instagram in April 2025, writing, “Happy Birthday, Val! Now we’re both 65. I love you. ❤️ #sisters #odaat #soberaf #family #medicare 🥳.”
Meanwhile, for years, Mackenzie Phillips has been open about her struggles with addiction. The daughter of The Mamas & the Papas musician John Phillips and his first wife, Susan Adams, she wrote about her life in her memoirs High on Arrival and Hopeful Healing.
In her conversation with Fox News, Phillips also explained that resilience is now a central theme in how she views her life.
“I mean, I think of resilience sort of on a spectrum,” she told the outlet.
“I have a high, high resilience,” she added. “You know, the love of my son, my family, my sisters, even though that relationship was very difficult for a long time, I just believe, I have a strong faith, and I mean, I had no choice. Be resilient or die.”