“Oh, I don’t know. Oh, okay. 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,” Phillips said.<\/p>\n
![\"Split](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Bertinelli-Phillips-One-Day-At-A-Time.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli were 15 and 14 years old when they began filming “One Day At a Time.” (Christopher Willard\/ABC via Getty Images; CBS\/Getty via Images)<\/p>\n
LIKE WHAT YOU\u2019RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n Phillips quickly clarified that Bertinelli has spoken openly about that period herself.<\/p>\n “But Valerie talks about it openly, so it’s not like I’m pulling her covers or anything,” she said. “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.”<\/p>\n The former child star<\/a> said drugs were also present behind the scenes of the sitcom.<\/p>\n “And you know, so we would do coke together in the dressing room and stuff,” Phillips said. “I just happened to be the one that got caught<\/a>. And thank God I got caught, you know?”<\/p>\n VALERIE BERTINELLI, ELLE MACPHERSON, BRAD PITT, ROB LOWE EXPLAIN HOW SOBRIETY HAS CHANGED THEIR LIVES<\/a><\/p>\n WATCH: MACKENZIE PHILLIPS REVEALS WILD COCAINE-FILLED BREAKS WITH VALERIE BERTINELLI<\/p>\n Phillips and Bertinelli became household names as teenage sisters on “One Day at a Time,” the CBS sitcom that ran from 1975 to 1984. Phillips played rebellious older sister Julie, while Bertinelli starred as younger sister Barbara Cooper.<\/p>\n The two were close in age and grew up together under the glare of sitcom fame. Their real-life friendship, however, lasted far longer than the show.<\/p>\n During a 2022 appearance on the “Behind the Velvet Rope” podcast<\/a>, Phillips reflected on why her bond with Bertinelli endured long after their teenage years in Hollywood.<\/p>\n “We were teenagers and now we’re women of a certain age and we loved each other,” Phillips said at the time. “We loved the people that we worked with. We were a family.”<\/p>\n Phillips acknowledged that her addiction complicated that bond for years.<\/p>\n “You know, and that I guess, you know, that we certainly had our years where I was, you know, out of my mind and Valerie was like okay,” she said.<\/p>\n DYAN CANNON TRIED ‘DRUGS, MEN AND PILLS’ BEFORE BECOMING A ‘GOD GIRL’<\/a><\/p>\n The actress recalled repeatedly reaching out to Bertinelli during earlier periods of sobriety, even when she knew the friendship needed time to heal.<\/p>\n “There were times where, you know, I would drive over Coldwater Canyon and I would know where Val and Ed lived and I would just call and leave her a voicemail and say I just drove past the house I want you to know I’m six months sober, I just drove past the house I want you to know I’m a year sober,” Phillips said.<\/p>\n She said she did not expect Bertinelli to respond right away.<\/p>\n MacKenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli star as Julie and Barbara Cooper in the CBS series One Day at a Time, which aired from 1975 to 1984 and followed Ann Romano and her daughters moving back to Indianapolis after a divorce. (CBS\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n “It was like I was patient because I know I had a lot of repair to do,” Phillips said. “And I said you don’t have to call me back I just want you to know I’m thinking of you and I love you and one day the phone rang.”<\/p>\n The friendship remains a meaningful part of Phillips\u2019 life. In April 2025, Phillips marked Bertinelli\u2019s 65th birthday with a tribute on Instagram<\/a>, writing, “Happy Birthday, Val! Now we’re both 65. I love you. \u2764\ufe0f #sisters #odaat #soberaf #family #medicare \ud83e\udd73.”<\/p>\n For Phillips, the ability to speak about her past without being consumed by it is part of the resilience she says has carried her forward.<\/p>\n VALERIE BERTINELLI DOESN\u2019T \u2018REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT THE 80S,’ FELT ‘GUILTY’ FOR EXPERIMENTAL PAST<\/a><\/p>\n When asked by Fox News Digital what keeps her grounded today, Phillips pointed to faith<\/a> and perspective.<\/p>\n WATCH: MACKENZIE PHILLIPS SAYS FAITH AND RESILIENCE HELPED SHAPE WHO SHE IS TODAY<\/p>\n “What keeps me grounded is my faith and just knowing that how strong and powerful, empowered my history has made me,” Phillips said.<\/p>\n She said people sometimes respond to her life story with pity, but that is not how she sees it.<\/p>\n “Someone was just saying, oh my God, I feel so sorry for everything you went through,” Phillips recalled. “And I was like, don’t feel sorry for me because everything I went through, even though it was horrible and difficult, made me the woman I am today.”<\/p>\n Phillips said she does not believe she could simply erase parts of her past and remain the same person.<\/p>\n “And so if I could go back and just take this part out, then I might not be who I am,” she said. “And I feel very blessed in my life.”<\/p>\n The actress has been candid for years about addiction, trauma and recovery<\/a>. Phillips is the daughter of John Phillips, the late Mamas & the Papas musician, and his first wife, Susan Adams. She wrote about her life in her memoir “High on Arrival” and later explored recovery in “Hopeful Healing.”<\/p>\n During her conversation with Fox News Digital, Phillips said resilience has become central to how she understands her life.<\/p>\n “I mean, I think of resilience sort of on a spectrum,” she said.<\/p>\n Phillips said she believes she falls into the latter category.<\/p>\n “I have a high, high resilience” she said. “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.”<\/p>\n Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli have remained close friends decades after co-starring on “One Day at a Time.” (CBS\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Phillips has also used her recovery to help others. In addition to acting, she has worked in the addiction and recovery field, including as a counselor and manager at Breathe Life Healing Centers.<\/p>\n In a 2019 interview with UCHealth Today<\/a>, Phillips spoke about finding purpose through that work.<\/p>\n “I found a way out and I feel beholden to share the good news,” she told the outlet.<\/p>\n She also said purpose has been key to her continued recovery.<\/p>\n “Purpose is key for me. I have a really strong passion and purpose now. I show up. I\u2019m a really good employee. I\u2019m a hard worker,” Phillips told UCHealth Today.<\/p>\n WATCH: DYAN CANNON SAYS FAITH IN GOD HAS GUIDED LIFE’S GREATEST BLESSINGS<\/p>\n Phillips has continued acting in recent years, including a role on Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black,” while also working in addiction recovery and counseling.<\/p>\n Looking back, she said playing a character struggling with substance abuse never felt triggering.<\/p>\n “People would say to me, \u2018Oh my God\u2019 you must have been so triggered,” Phillips recalled on the “Behind the Velvet Rope” podcast. “I was like no I wasn’t triggered I was inhabiting somebody else.”<\/p>\n Still, Phillips knows many people continue to connect her most closely to the most painful chapters of her past.<\/p>\n![\"MacKenzie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/one-day-at-a-time-los-angeles-fox-news-001.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Valerie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Getty_ValerieBertinelli_MackenziePhillips.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"Mackenzie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/John_Phillips_Mackenzie_Phillips.jpg\")
<\/p>\n