The Dr. Phil show reportedly helped addicts score drugs and alcohol before they went on air
Several guests of the Dr. Phil show claim that as they struggled with severe substance addictions, the show helped them find drugs and alcohol, Stat and The Boston Globe reported Thursday.
In 2013, former Survivor winner Todd Herzog appeared on the Dr. Phil show and was so intoxicated that he was struggling to stand. During the interview, host Phillip McGraw — better known as Dr. Phil — said that he'd "never talked to a guest who was closer to death." But Herzog insisted to Stat that he was actually sober when he arrived to the Los Angeles set. Instead, he said, a bottle of vodka was waiting for him in his dressing room; battling alcoholism at the time, Herzog said he emptied its contents. Then, he told Stat, he was given a dose of anti-anxiety medication by an employee who said it would "calm his nerves."
Two other former guests claim that Dr. Phil staffers helped them procure drugs before the show. Marianne Smith, who accompanied her heroin-addicted niece to the show's set, told Stat that a show's producer suggested they acquire the drug in Los Angeles' Skid Row neighborhood after she raised concerns that her niece was experiencing withdrawal. In another instance, a show staffer reportedly accompanied and filmed a pregnant woman in withdrawal buying heroin after she could not receive detox treatment at a hospital; the footage was aired on Dr. Phil. A spokesman for the show told Stat that the staffer "simply documented the natural behavior she observed, which would have occurred whether she was there or not."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The spokesman, Martin Greenberg, initially told Stat that the show medically supervises all of its guests, but he backtracked that claim a week later. "We mean 100 percent of guests agreeing to treatment. It does not mean that a guest is being monitored 100 percent of the time," he said. "We cannot control what we cannot control."
Read the entire report at STAT.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.
-
'Restoring life to an ancient watershed'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Crossword: March 26, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sudoku hard: March 26, 2024
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Reddit IPO values social media site at $6.4 billion
Speed Read The company makes its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Housing costs: the root of US economic malaise?
speed read Many voters are troubled by the housing affordability crisis
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Feds cap credit card late fees at $8
speed read The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule to save households an estimated $10 billion a year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Immigration helped the US economy outpace peers
speed read The U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.2% last quarter
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
4-day workweek gets boost from UK study
Speed Read Following a six-month trial, the majority of participating British companies are still using the truncated schedule
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US sues to block Kroger-Albertsons merger
Speed Read The Federal Trade Commission sued to block the $24.6 billion merger between the grocery giants
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Nvidia sees historic stock rise on AI chips success
Speed Read U.S. chipmaker Nvidia achieved the biggest one-day increase in value of any company in history
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New York may seize Trump's assets for $450M penalty
Speed Read The former president likely owes $600 million from two civil judgments in New York
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published