Dr. Phil has had his fair share of controversial moments that have left viewers questioning his expertise. Join us as we unravel those eyebrow-raising instances. Our list showcases moments like the troubling saga of Alexandra, misguided interactions with celebrities like Britney Spears, and episodes involving questionable characters like Pastor Thom Miller. From controversial interviews to ethical missteps, these moments reveal the complexities behind one of television’s most famous figures.
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00:00And is her dad passed, but her mom's alive?
00:02No, both of her parents are alive.
00:04Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the times
00:07Dr. Phil McGraw showed he might not know what he was talking about.
00:11So, Dr. Phil, I'm going to give you from now till April 5th to issue an apology.
00:19Number 10, Alexandra.
00:21This intervention on McGraw's part went on for far too long.
00:24I know how to push people's buttons, I'm not afraid to say that.
00:27Yeah, well, so do I.
00:28In 2004, the parents of young Alexandra went on to the show to get advice for their pregnant 15-year-old.
00:35What followed were constant interventions of Alexandra and her equally troubled sister, Catherine.
00:39We schedule for you guys to be here three times. You've called the night before and cancelled.
00:46Dubbed the Dr. Phil family, their struggles with substance use disorder and delinquency
00:51were depicted in these segments.
00:53McGraw even forced Alexandra's fiancé to take a lie detector test
00:56to find out whether he had hurt their child.
00:59He came out as being deceptive when asked if he had bruised anyone intentionally.
01:06It appears that neither the show nor McGraw had any interest in actually helping Alexandra or her family,
01:12only using them as fodder for entertainment.
01:14What a mess.
01:16Number 9, Britney Spears.
01:17In one of the earliest scandals of his talk shows, McGraw visited Britney Spears in her hospital room.
01:23He seemed intent on getting Spears on his show for an intervention.
01:26Oh my God, Mama, it's the doctor from the hospital who climbed through the window!
01:29Come on, everybody. We're out of here.
01:32Hold on a second. Nobody's going nowhere!
01:34The backlash was swift.
01:36A psychologist even filed a complaint with the California Board of Psychology.
01:41Amid public and professional criticism, McGraw claimed that he was invited by Spears' family.
01:46Who asked you to come down to Cedars?
01:48I want to set the record straight.
01:50I went to see Britney at the request of her family.
01:55The Spears family confirmed that he was invited, but only as a friend, not as a professional.
02:00McGraw very quickly cancelled his planned intervention.
02:03We're grateful this never occurred, but a parody on MADtv shows us how it might have gone.
02:07Listen, I'm not crazy anymore, y'all, okay? I'm doing real, real, real good. I'm doing real better.
02:14This week, I only got married three times, and one of the people was a person I actually know. Yeah!
02:19Number 8, Pastor Tom Miller.
02:21McGraw has had a history of promoting very questionable people.
02:24Among this is 61-year-old Pastor Tom Miller, who was a former Mafia member.
02:29Tom proposed to me twice.
02:30The first time, I didn't want to wear the ring because I was afraid of what my mom would say.
02:35A week later, he proposed to me in the toy aisle, and I said yes.
02:39He made waves when he married his 19-year-old girlfriend, Reba, whom he had met when she was 8 years old.
02:46Even worse, he was already married to his wife, Belinda, who approved of this second match.
02:51The 60-year-old claims he's expecting a baby with his 19-year-old bride, Reba,
02:55whom he just married with the full support of his 44-year-old legal wife, Belinda.
03:01It's like having a sister.
03:03When the trio came on the show, Reba was already pregnant with Miller's child.
03:07McGraw doesn't handle this morally dubious situation with any psychological insight,
03:11instead asking softball questions that don't reveal much.
03:15And you said you had a huge crush on him when you were 11.
03:18Yes.
03:20I didn't know. I didn't know you had a crush on me.
03:21We viewers are left with an awful taste in our mouths.
03:25Number 7, Lockdown Deadlier Than COVID.
03:27I can't show you an X-ray of depression.
03:30I can't show you an X-ray of anxiety.
03:33But the fact of the matter is, the longer this lockdown goes on, the more vulnerable people get.
03:39McGraw's controversial moments go beyond just his show.
03:42Going on Fox News during the COVID-19 pandemic,
03:45McGraw criticised the lockdowns, claiming that they would cause more death than the actual virus.
03:49250 people a year die from poverty.
03:52And the poverty line is getting such that more and more people are going to fall below that
03:57because the economy is crashing around us.
04:00He then went on to cite inaccurate statistics about the deaths from cigarettes,
04:04car accidents and swimming pools, as if they were comparable to an infectious disease.
04:09Once more, the fact that McGraw has not had a clinical psychology license in years
04:14was made very apparent.
04:16Loneliness actually creates problems.
04:18People that suffer from loneliness, they become 29% more likely to have coronary artery disease.
04:25Perhaps he should have left the statistics to actual public health experts.
04:30Number 6, Donald Trump.
04:32Few mental health professionals mix their practice with political advocacy, for good reason.
04:37But McGraw has made his support of this controversial politician no secret.
04:41It's an honor to be with you.
04:42Let me just say, it's great.
04:44Look at the logo.
04:44I've seen that sucker a long time.
04:46You look well.
04:47He endorsed Donald Trump in 2024, and his interview on Dr. Phil Primetime was criticized for softball questions.
04:54Most alarmingly, McGraw claimed Trump didn't receive a proper due process during the trial,
04:59in which Trump was accused of paying hush money to Stormy Daniels.
05:03I think they heard some things that were very prejudicial,
05:07that had nothing to do with solving the problem of the case at hand.
05:11McGraw even bizarrely stated Trump's alleged co-conspirator shouldn't have testified,
05:17a standard procedure in most trials.
05:19McGraw's woeful ignorance of court procedures was on display here.
05:23Dr. Phil, I mean, I don't understand why you would think that Michael Cohen,
05:26who is a key person in a lot of the narrative here,
05:31should not have been allowed to testify in this case?
05:33Is that what you're saying?
05:34Number five, Todd Herzog.
05:36Todd Herzog went from winning Survivor China to being helped onto this stage
05:41because he was too drunk to walk by himself.
05:45McGraw has a long history of exploiting people who struggle with alcohol,
05:48such as Joe Lin, a celebrity winner of the reality TV show Survivor.
05:53Todd Herzog appeared on McGraw's show in 2013 to discuss his own struggles.
05:57I want to take you to that treatment center.
06:00How long do I have to go?
06:03At least 90 days.
06:05Oh, shh.
06:06Probably a lot longer than that.
06:08Viewers were stunned when he appeared to the set inebriated,
06:11so much so that he had to be helped onto the stage.
06:14Herzog was clearly in no state for an interview.
06:17Employers of the show came out with the allegations in 2020,
06:21claiming that they were forced to exploit people with serious problems,
06:23even ensuring guests didn't take medications before they went on the show.
06:28Now that's unethical.
06:30And you had no recollection of being on the Dr. Phil show.
06:34I remember about this much.
06:35Number four, debate on trans and non-binary people.
06:39McGraw's lack of research or even professionalism
06:41often left him unprepared to handle incendiary topics.
06:45In this case, he prompted a transphobic firestorm on social media
06:48when he invited a non-binary couple on the show
06:50to talk about gender pronouns and transgender identities.
06:53And I think a lot of people are really confused about gender identity in these times,
06:57and it's good for us to have these conversations
06:59so people open their minds and relearn and unlearn to what we've been taught.
07:03Right.
07:03Things were respectful enough until Matt Walsh came on.
07:06This right-wing commentator is not an expert on transgender rights or science,
07:11and he has made no secret of his transphobia.
07:14So you think it's a delusion?
07:16Someone is self-delusional?
07:18Yeah, I think it's delusion.
07:19It could be a mental illness.
07:20It could be a lot of different things.
07:21This move struck many as cruel.
07:24McGraw clearly could not keep the debate educational and fact-focused,
07:28only incurring further abuse against a marginalized population.
07:31You want to reduce women, you want to reduce men,
07:37down to maybe just their genetics, our genitals, our chromosomes, right?
07:41That's what you're saying.
07:41Number three, Hannah Archuleta.
07:44This case is a sad one.
07:4517-year-old Hannah appeared on the show in 2019 as yet another delinquent teen.
07:50Hannah has a string of felony charges from resisting arrest,
07:54assaulting a police officer, and even stealing a car.
07:57Her life is just in shambles.
07:59McGraw pressured her parents to send her to Turnabout Ranch,
08:02a therapeutic site in Utah meant to help troubled teens.
08:06It turns out this ranch has had many allegations of abuse.
08:09Archuleta herself claimed that she was preyed upon by a staffer.
08:13I expected to be treated with understanding.
08:16Instead, I experienced retaliation from the ranch after I spoke up
08:20in what appeared to me to be a punishment for reporting my abuse.
08:25Her parents withdrew her from the ranch and filed a lawsuit against McGraw, Viacom, and CBS.
08:31Danielle Bregoli, or Bad Baby, was also a victim of Turnabout Ranch and involved in the filing.
08:36So for the first three days here, there is no showering.
08:39They put you in a circle, which is a teepee.
08:42It's a little teepee, but it's open.
08:44And you have to sit there for three days.
08:45They wouldn't let me lay down for nothing.
08:47Thankfully, McGraw never recommended the ranch again on his show.
08:51Number two, John Edward.
08:53Unfortunately, McGraw has also promoted pseudoscience.
08:56In 2012, he invited a self-proclaimed psychic medium, John Edward, to his show.
09:01But I feel like you helped him navigate something
09:03that wouldn't be known publicly, and I don't mean health.
09:06And he's making me feel like, thank you for being honorable
09:09and not discussing that then, and clearly not discussing that now.
09:14Although admitting that he was a bit of a healthy skeptic,
09:17McGraw agreed to sit down for a reading.
09:19McGraw comes across as overly credulous at Edward's vague questions.
09:23Did anybody miss a leg, or was somebody paralyzed on one side?
09:27Hmm, no.
09:28My dad had a broken leg at one point.
09:31He did.
09:32At some point in his life, but he wasn't paralyzed or anything.
09:34It's silly, if entertaining stuff.
09:36But what does that have to do with mental health and therapy?
09:39Edward also did readings for the audience.
09:42So, first and foremost, there's no fire connection to you?
09:46Nobody in a fire, correct?
09:48Okay.
09:49Psychic mediums are a notoriously shady business,
09:51and Edward has been shown to be more inaccurate than not.
09:55This was a waste of time.
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10:13Number 1.
10:14Shelley Duvall
10:15By far the most shocking scandal on Dr. Phil was the case of Shelley Duvall.
10:19I knew Robin, and I was sorry when he died.
10:22That was a sad day.
10:23I don't think he's dead.
10:25Yeah, you don't think he's dead?
10:26No.
10:27McGraw invited her to the show in 2016.
10:29Her erratic behavior on set,
10:31and the clear signs of mental illness that she displayed,
10:33led to a firestorm of controversy.
10:35Yes, I think it's happening.
10:37It's already happened all over the world.
10:39Do you watch Jodie Foster movies?
10:42What?
10:43They did that whole series on me.
10:46Mia Farrow, her journalist's son Ronan,
10:48and Stanley Kubrick's daughter Vivian all criticized McGraw,
10:52accusing him and his show of exploiting her condition for ratings.
10:56Vivian Kubrick even went so far as to call for a boycott of the show.
11:00When asked if he regretted the infamous interview, however,
11:02McGraw responds that he only lamented the way that the episode was promoted.
11:07Oh, I don't regret what I did.
11:08I regret that it was promoted in a way that people thought was unbecoming.
11:17Again, McGraw has not had a license to practice psychology since 2006,
11:22and it shows.
11:24Which other terrible moment from Dr. Phil made you realize
11:27he was a TV personality and not a true professional?
11:30Let us know in the comments down below.
11:32I'm very sick. I need help.
11:35Well, that's why I'm here.