A woman who sought treatment from Dr. Phil 25 years ago has charged him of sexually abusing her. She said his sexual advances destroyed her whole life.
Dr. Phil is a talk show hosted by Phil McGraw. After McGraw's success with his segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil debuted on September 16, 2002. On both shows McGraw offers advice in the form of "life strategies" from his experience as a clinical psychologist.
The show is in syndication throughout the United States and Canada, as well as a number of other countries. Also, the show's syndication contracts specifically state that if Dr. Phil is on another station, it cannot air at the same time as Oprah.
Its sixth season premiered on September 10, 2007, and it was announced on August 3, 2005, that it has been renewed through at least 2013, or eleven seasons. Occasional prime time specials have aired on CBS.
The woman Sara Morrison says she was a shy college sophomore 25 years ago, but she is still haunted by what she says happened to her.
“Not a single day has gone by when I haven’t been affected by what Phil McGraw did to me. He profoundly affected the course of my life,” Morrison reveals in the August 17 issue of The National Enquirer, on newsstands this week.
“The world should know this man is a predator and a bully. He shouldn’t be telling Americans how to live their lives, how to improve themselves. I suffered from low self-esteem, and I was depressed, lonely and suicidal. Phil was extremely insistent that I call him all the time, and he would call me. He wanted to see me three or four times a week – as a patient.”
She recalls, “I suffered from low self-esteem, and Iwas depressed, lonely and suicidal. Phil was extremely insistent that I call him all the time, and he would call me.”
Sara says the nature of her relationship with the doctor — then-34 — changed the following summer, when he paid her to work as his intern, while still charging her as a patient.
“The first day I showed up for work, Phil had his hands all over me,” she recalled. “Phil would pull me down to sit in his lap while he talked on the phone to patients, other doctors, even his wife! He’d be running his hand up and down the inside of my thigh all the way up to my panties.”