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High On Arrival

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High On Arrival

Written by: Mackenzie Phillips
Narrated by: Mackenzie Phillips
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About this listen

 Mackenzie Phillips shares “a raw glimpse” (Entertainment Weekly) into her lifelong battle with personal demons and near-fatal addictions—and reveals the shattering truth behind her complex, secretive, and damaging history with her father, the legendary John Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas.

Not long before her fiftieth birthday, Mackenzie Phillips made headlines with her arrest for drug possession at Los Angeles International Airport; the actor-musician-mother had been on her way to a reunion of One Day at a Time, the hugely popular ’70s sitcom on which she once starred as the lovable rebel Julie Cooper.

Born into rock-and-roll royalty, flying in Learjets to the Virgin Islands at five, making pot brownies with Donovan at eleven, Mackenzie grew up in an all-access kingdom of hippie freedom and heroin cool. As a rising Hollywood star herself, she joined the nonstop party in the hedonistic pleasure dome of her father’s making, and a rapt TV audience watched as Julie Cooper wasted away before their eyes. By the time Mackenzie discovered how deep and dark her father’s trip was going, it was too late.

As an adult, she has paid dearly for a lifetime of excess, working tirelessly to reconcile her wonderful, terrible past and the pull of her magnetic father. By sharing her journey toward redemption and peace, the star who turned up High on Arrival has finally come back down to earth—to stay.©2009 Shane's Mom, Inc; (P)2009 Simon & Schuster Entertainment & Celebrities Women Celebrity Royalty Memoir Emotionally Gripping Biography

What the critics say

"I felt many things while reading this book -- which I did in one overnight sitting -- but when I reached the last page I felt only one: a tremendous respect for its author and a deep appreciation of just exactly how courageous she is to publish this book.
This is no celebrity addiction memoir. And it is no 'former child star falls from grace' saga, either. It is the heart-wrenching and perilous story that thousands and thousands of perfectly ordinary women and men lived themselves, silently, numbly, and with obedience and love. By making her search for redemption public -- despite the inevitable backlash -- Mackenzie Phillips may very well help others find it for themselves.
Rich with compassion, forgiveness, and wisdom, this is a brave memoir executed with an unwavering loyalty and commitment to truth." -- Augusten Burroughs
All stars
Most Relevant
Even through the awful days of drugs, at no fault of her own, the intelligent soft hearted young woman couldn’t be hidden. I knew she would make it. I’m so glad I was right… and yes, the sitcom would not have been the same without her. This is the best most honest book I’ve listened to and learned from of all the bios.

Still The Same Beautiful Person

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Great book about a personal experience in addiction, abuse and family disfunction. I couldn’t stop listening.

Very impacting

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I was really surprised by this book. Of course I'd heard about the shocking revelation of the sexual relationship between the author and her father, so I was expecting that. What took me by surprise was the raw and ugly and too true reality of addiction : what it does to the addict and what it does to the people who live the addict.

Loving an addict is... complicated. Loving a parent who's an addict is its own mangled ball of feeling, the good tangled with the bad, not to mention how those feelings turn back on you and you wonder if you're a bad person for being resentful of a person and an illness they can't help.

I'm grateful that the author found a way to say all of these things, for giving a voice to the complex desires to have love and attention from a parent (even if that parent isn't really a good one), to giving me insight into the mind of an addict and helping me understand why it's not as simple as 'just stop' no matter the stakes, to telling the one truth that will set you free: forgive.

It's not as easy as it sounds, and it probably never will be, but once you've made up your mind to forgive, no matter how long it will take or if you never are able to get to that point, you will start to heal.

As Healing as it is Traumatizing

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Mackenzie was easy to listen too..but sad to hear of her addiction experiences! I have learned alot from this book..for that I am thankful!

Thank you Mackenzie!! I give a 5 star review!

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Enjoyed listening to this title as it is read by the author. Makes more personal and expressive.
Great book very courageous of the author Mac Kenzie Phillip's to be so personal about all aspects of life including incest

Excellent

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