After Being a Guest on the Dr. Phil Show, I Flew Home Feeling Dirty and Used
McGraw’s ethics as a “counselor” are reprehensible
I answered our landline with a weary, “Hello?”
It was an ordinary evening in October 2002 when the phone rang with its usual obnoxious jangle. I grumpily got up to silence the irritating noise, thinking it was another frequent caller requesting one of our four chatty teenagers.
Instead, a friendly woman’s voice caught me off guard, announcing, “Hello, my name is Melissa, and I’m calling from the Dr. Phil Show in California. Did I catch you at a good time to talk?”
I angrily reacted, “Is this some kind of joke?” But before I could slam the receiver into its cradle, she quickly explained, “Your sister, Marlene, has written a heartfelt letter pleading Dr. Phil to help mend your broken relationship.”
That got my attention.
Our forty-plus years of enjoying a close sisterly bond now teetered on the brink of extinction. We hadn’t spoken for over a year.
I felt queasy and anxious as Melissa described the show’s content and details of my commitment if I accepted. Rebounding from the initial stun of this bizarre conversation, I shakily replied, “I don’t know what to say. I need to think…
