The Untold Truth Of Dr. Phil
Television viewers were first introduced to Dr. Phil McGraw back in the late 1990s when he appeared on Oprah Winfrey's daytime talk show to provide relationship advice. Dr. Phil, as he came to be known, has a Ph.D. in psychology and quickly became a hit with viewers; before long he began appearing on the show weekly to dole out common-sense, tough-love tactics. The popularity he experienced from all that exposure on television's No. 1 daytime show led him to quickly become a celebrity in his own right, publishing books and appearing on TV talk shows while he cannily built his own brand.
In 2002, McGraw stepped out from under Winfrey's wing and went solo with his own daytime show, produced by Winfrey's Harpo Productions. "Dr. Phil" proved to be an instant hit, becoming the second most-watched show in daytime (after Winfrey's, of course). His benefactor and mentor, Winfrey, has had no problem taking credit for his success. "He'd never done TV before," Winfrey told viewers during an episode of "Oprah." "I really discovered him, and have created this." McGraw, to his credit, was only too happy to concur. "I often say I'm the first graduate from Oprah University, and that's a pretty great place to learn how to do television," he told Variety.
Despite his decades in the public eye, how well do viewers really know the man behind the TV show? To find out more, read on for a deep dive into the untold truth of Dr. Phil.
Dr. Phil was once a football star
Born in Vinita, Oklahoma (and raised in both Oklahoma and Texas), Dr. Phil McGraw attended the University of Tulsa where the future celeb became a college athlete. At a height of 6 feet, and 4 inches, the linebacker earned a football scholarship.
"I spent a lot of time in that stadium and not always on the field," McGraw told Oklahoma's News 9, referencing TU's Skelly Stadium, recalling how his coach made him and the other players run up and down the stands — wearing their full gear, no less — at 5 a.m. "I've been in every seat, I've been on every row of that stadium a hundred times let me tell ya for sure," he added. McGraw was a member of the university's Golden Hurricane team when they made sports history in 1968 — albeit not in a good way — by suffering a blowout 100-6 loss to the University of Houston; that notorious loss placed the team in the record books as the most one-sided game in college football history.
He joked about the loss in an interview on the "Late Show With David Letterman" (via Grantland). "I mean, at halftime I was lookin' out the ear hole of my helmet, so I don't know where I was playin'," he said. He also mocked what was clearly a horrible defensive performance, quipping: "Boy, I shut 'em down, I tell ya. Nobody breaks a hundred on me."
He launched a business to help lawyers win trials
After attaining his doctorate in psychology, Phil McGraw began his own practice. He quickly discovered, however, that his heart just wasn't in one-on-one counseling. "When I was practicing psychology, I used to tell myself if I ever get to where I'm just doing this for the money or I'm just going through the motions, I'll quit," he told CNN. When he found himself at that place, he made a bold pivot. Shuttering his practice, he teamed up with attorney Gary Dobbs to found Courtroom Sciences Inc., offering lawyers a psychological perspective on the courtroom by providing advice on everything from crafting a powerful opening statement to selecting members of the jury.
The business proved to be as successful as it was innovative, and the firm wound up taking on some big clients such as Exxon, advising the oil behemoth in its high-profile trial involving the Exxon-Valdez oil spill in Alaska. Courtroom Sciences Inc. typically worked for lawyers defending clients, not the ones doing the suing, something McGraw explained in an interview with The Ledger. "I think suing is kind of whiny ... But also, practically, defendants are usually the deep pockets and they're the ones who can afford my kind of services."
Not only did the company's success make McGraw a lot of money, but it also put him on a trajectory to meet the woman who would change his life in ways he never could have imagined.
He met Oprah by helping her win a lawsuit
During a 1996 episode of her talk show, Oprah Winfrey hosted a segment discussing bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which the media dubbed mad cow disease after large numbers of cattle became infected in Britain. After hearing the perspective of her guest — an animal rights activist and vegetarian — Winfrey insisted she was done eating beef, and vowed to never to eat another hamburger.
Her remarks enraged those involved in Texas' cattle industry — so much so that several powerful cattle owners joined forces to launch a $12-million defamation lawsuit against her, under the state's obscure "veggie libel" law devised to discourage disparagement of food. Seeking the upper hand, Winfrey's attorneys hired Courtroom Sciences Inc. and ultimately won the case. During the trial, Winfrey developed a connection with McGraw. She was impressed by the practical, real-world approach he took to psychology, and figured her viewers would feel the same way.
As McGraw recalled during an appearance on "The Rachael Ray Show," he made his first appearance on Winfrey's talk show on the day that the verdict came in, when she singled him out and introduced him to viewers. Winfrey's producers subsequently called him up and invited McGraw to be a guest — but he turned down the invitation because he had plans to go scuba diving. "About 15 minutes later, the phone rang and it was Oprah," McGraw said. "And she said 'You don't say no to the 'Oprah' show!'"
His son is a successful pop star who's opened for the Jonas Brothers
Given the massive success that Phil McGraw has seen in television, it would make sense for his offspring to seek vocations in the entertainment industry. That has been the case with Jordan McGraw, the younger of two sons the "Dr. Phil" star shares with his wife, Robin McGraw.
Jordan has pursued a career in music, beginning by composing music for one of his dad's TV shows, "House Calls with Dr. Phil," and the series "That Animal Rescue Show." He went on to form the band Stars in Stereo and then split off into another group, Hundred Handed. He then struck out on his own as a solo artist with the release of his 2017 single "Too Good," which was included on his 2018 debut EP "Oo Whoa." He experienced even further success as a solo act when he was tapped to open for the Jonas Brothers on their 2019 Happiness Begins tour, and again in 2021 for their Remember This tour.
"I mean, music for me has always been kind of an escape and my favorite part of playing music for people is watching them escape for two or three minutes at a time over the course of my set," the singer told E! News of his shows during the latter tour. "I just hope people let go for each of our sets and just have fun and party."
Dr. Phil rocked out with Good Charlotte
While Jordan McGraw is no stranger to singing onstage, that hasn't been the forte of his famous father — at least not entirely. In fact, Dr. Phil McCraw earned his rock cred during a 2018 appearance on "The Late Late Show with James Corden." McGraw appeared in a sketch in which host James Corden revealed his sideline as a "renowned music-performance enhancement coach." He demonstrated his skills by tutoring rock band Good Charlotte by introducing them to a new musical collaborator. "Buckle your seatbelts and get ready for the most exciting collaboration in music history!" Corden declared as he announced the arrival of McGraw, who declared, "I'm hear to rock this b****!"
Promising that the addition of McGraw to Good Charlotte would result in "Great Charlotte," Corden predicted this new supergroup would be spending the next 10 years on tour together. The band then took to the stage to perform their hit "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous." Just as frontman Joel Madden came to the chorus, McGraw joined them onstage. Decked out in a bejeweled vest, his eyes adorned with Alice Cooper-style mascara, he began tunelessly wailing along. Corden, watching his master plan fall apart in real-time, can be seen wincing.
"I'll be the first to admit I got that very, very wrong," Corden noted when it was all over. "If anything, that was Bad Charlotte. I don't know what I was thinking."
His comments about COVID-19 stirred up backlash
Just to be clear, Dr. Phil McGraw's doctorate is in psychology, not infectious diseases. That, however, didn't prevent him from issuing some wildly uninformed comments about COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic during an appearance on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle."
Criticizing the lockdown to prevent the spread of the highly contagious virus, McGraw suggested that people died all the time, for all kinds of reasons. "The fact of the matter is we have people dying, 45,000 people a year die from automobile accidents, 480,000 from cigarettes, 360,000 a year from swimming pools, but we don't shut the country down for that, but yet we're doing it for this?" he said.
McGraw's comments were hit with backlash on social media, including a scathing comeback from Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. "Dr. Phil not only apparently has no last name, he also in fact has no medical license. Ignore quacks," he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. Meanwhile, social media users had a field day with his equating deaths from a highly infectious virus to those caused by car accidents and swimming pools. "I didn't think I'd wake up to the news that Dr. Phil thinks car accidents are contagious," read one tweet, while another pointed out the number McGraw cited about swimming-related fatalities had a couple of extra zeroes tacked to the end. "Actual number is 3,600," read that tweet, adding, "swimming pool accidents aren't contagious Phil."
He inadvertently launched the career of Bhad Barbie
Arguably among Dr. Phil McGraw's more dubious achievements has been introducing the world to Bhad Bhabie. At the time, the future rapper was 13-year-old brat Danielle Bregoli, whose mother had so completely lost control of her child that she apparently had nowhere to turn but the "Dr. Phil" show. A brief clip from the interview went viral when the unrepentant kid threatened the audience, "Cash me outside, how 'bout dah?" which quickly became a catchphrase and a meme. On McGraw's recommendation, Bregoli's mother sent her to Turn-About Ranch, a Utah facility catering to troubled teenagers.
Not long after, the rebellious teen morphed into rapper Bhad Bhabie, with her debut single — "These Heaux" — becoming a surprise hit that ultimately racked up more than 93 million views on YouTube and landed her a recording contract with Atlantic Records.
Years later, Bhad Bhabie released a video detailing the alleged abuse that she and other minors endured at Turn-About Ranch. She demanded an apology from McGraw for recommending she be sent there. McGraw was asked about her allegations when he subsequently appeared on NewsNation's "Banfield," and decidedly did not apologize. "Well, she went to Turn-About four or five years ago. If she had a bad experience, obviously I would hate that. We'd be sorry about that," he said, but took zero responsibility for whatever took place. "We don't have anything to do with what happens with guests once they leave the stage," he added.
He's tried to rebrand himself as a weight-loss guru
Weight loss and how to achieve it is a lucrative business, estimated at being a $76-billion industry in the U.S. Dr. Phil McGraw apparently wanted to carve off a few of those dollars for himself when he wrote the 2003 book "The Ultimate Weight Loss Solution," a tome that was accompanied by a food guide and cookbook. "The truth is, if you're going to get weight off and keep it off, you have to change your lifestyle. You have to change the way you think, the way you feel, the way you interact with food. You've got to change your behaviors," he told CBS News of his weight-loss philosophy. "I know that's not what people want to hear."
Around that same time, McGraw became the celebrity spokesperson for Shape Up!, a line of drinks, supplements, and nutrition bars, which he touted as being essential in shedding weight — at a cost of $60 per day. As it happened, 100,000 or so people who used the stuff unsuccessfully launched a class-action suit. The company behind the Shape Up! line, CSA Nutraceuticals, stopped producing the products under threat of a Federal Trade Commission investigation into claims of false advertising. The suit was settled for $10.5 million.
That lawsuit didn't prevent McGraw from returning to the well more than a decade later with his 2015 book "The 20/20 Diet," which advised dieters to consume just 20 ingredients.
He created a hit TV drama based on himself
Having experienced huge success in daytime television, in 2016 Dr. Phil McGraw branched out in a whole new direction with the launch of CBS drama "Bull." Not only was he a producer on the show, he was also its co-creator — and had based the premise on his own experience advising lawyers with Courtroom Sciences Inc. In the series, "NCIS" alum Michael Weatherly starred as Dr. Jason Bull, who consults with lawyers in his capacity as head honcho of Trial Analysis Corporation.
"Well, it's pretty surreal to watch [my life] TV-ized," McGraw admitted in a video, documenting his conversation with Weatherly about the show. In fact, McGraw revealed, it was his eldest son, Jay McGraw, who initially had the idea to base a scripted series on his former life as a trial consultant. "He said, 'We got to turn this into a TV show," he recalled. McGraw admitted he'd never imagined his work with Courtroom Sciences Inc. would make for an interesting TV show — particularly because, at the time, he was adamant about keeping his methods top secret. "In fact, in all the time I was doing it, I never gave one word of an interview because I didn't ever want anybody to know what we were doing or how we were doing it," he explained.
"Bull" turned out to be a big hit for CBS, airing for six seasons until its cancellation in 2022.
He sued the National Enquirer for a quarter-billion dollars
Dr. Phil McGraw has generally been thick-skinned about negative media coverage. When Psychology Today noted that he "often dishes some very bad advice," he didn't respond. Neither did he fire back when The Washington Post opined that he "ought to have his head examined," or when the Daily Beast flat-out called him a "quack."
What did push him over the line, however, was the National Enquirer, known for its scandalous and often scurrilous stories about celebrities. At issue were reports in the Enquirer and its sister tabloid, The Star, accusing McGraw of spousal abuse that had pushed his wife, Robin, to the brink of divorce. He retaliated by filing a bombshell lawsuit, seeking a staggering $250 million in damages. The magazine's parent company, American Media Inc. (AMI), responded with a scathing statement. "It's a delicious irony that Dr. Phil ... whose 'unseemly melange of exploitation, celebrity parasitism and credential mining goes back years' has filed a lawsuit against AMI and accused it of being a 'trashy tabloid,'" the statement said, as reported by USA Today. "This from the man who visited Britney Spears in the hospital in 2008, then issued a public statement about the visit in violation of her family's trust."
Less than two months later, McGraw dropped the suit; if there was a settlement, it wasn't made public. "The lawsuit has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of all the parties," an AMI spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.
He faced allegations of creating a toxic workplace at the Dr. Phil show
In 2022, Dr. Phil McGraw had more to worry about than dubious tabloid stories when BuzzFeed News published a blockbuster exposé. According to that report, 12 "Dr. Phil" staffers — both former and current — shared allegations of a toxic workplace on the show, claiming they suffered verbal abuse, intimidation, and racism. In addition, the report also claimed that guests on the show were routinely exploited due to their vulnerable psychological state. Most ironically, 11 of those interviewed for the story claimed that working for a TV show supposedly meant to help people improve their mental health completely trashed their own. "Even when I quit, I had to go to therapy for it," one former staffer said, "which is crazy because you're working for a therapist."
ViacomCBS, the studio that distributed "Dr. Phil," issued a statement in response: "Creating safe and inclusive working environments is a top priority ... We encourage any employee who believes that they or others within the company have been treated unfairly to report it without a fear of retaliation. We take seriously all such reports," read the statement, as reported by USA Today.
Meanwhile, both McGraw's attorney and a rep for the show also issued statements to E! News, denying the exposé's allegations. The former blasted accusations of racism as an "absurd, ridiculous attention grab," while the latter characterized the piece as a "sensationalized and baseless article."
Dr. Phil has been sued ... a lot
When the Dr. Phil McGraw endorsed Shape Up! products were hit by a class-action lawsuit, it was the company behind the products, not McGraw, that was sued.
That said, McGraw has been sued many times over the years. For example, former segment producer Leah Rothman accused the TV shrink of abusive behavior so extreme that it made her hair fall out. Another suit came from Janet Harris, a skin-care expert who'd appeared on "Dr. Phil" several times, claiming McGraw's dog bit her and caused an infection that left her with hearing loss. Another lawsuit was launched by Deepak Kalpoe and Satish Kalpoe, two brothers who were suspects in the Natalee Holloway murder case; they sued for defamation over the way they were depicted on "Dr. Phil."
Another suit was filed by Shirley Dieu and Crystal Matchett, who claimed they were brainwashed, sexually harassed, and held captive with a naked man during a segment for "Dr. Phil." Another lawsuit focused on Hannah Archuleta's claim she was sexually assaulted at a Utah teen ranch recommended by the show. Then there was former guest Kaden Mahaffa, who sued because she felt McGraw made fun of her when she was mentally ill, while another former guest, Josie Goldberg, sued for $10,000, claiming she was entitled to receive residuals for reruns of her episode. In addition, Matthew Barasch sued for $100 million, claiming McGraw made him appear to be mentally unsound when he appeared on the show.
He's been accused of exploiting celebrity guests at their lowest moments
"Dr. Phil" has been mired in controversy so many times that it kind of became the show's thing. In fact, the show has been criticized on numerous occasions for bringing in people with mental illness and then trotting them out in front of TV cameras, rather than providing private treatment.
There have been, however, some glaring examples that were so egregious it was impossible not to notice. That was the case when actor Shelley Duvall made a 2016 appearance on "Dr. Phil" and told him she was "very sick." Remembered for her roles in such Hollywood hits as "Nashville," "Popeye," and "The Shining," those who knew Duvall from her movie roles were shocked by her appearance on the show, as she seemed disoriented and confused. One of those viewers was Vivian Kubrick, daughter of late "The Shining" director Stanley Kubrick, who tweeted an open letter to McGraw. "Unquestionably, this is purely a form of lurid and exploitive entertainment – it's appallingly cruel," Kubrick wrote. "I recoil in absolute disgust. I hope others will join me in boycotting your utterly heartless form of entertainment, because it has nothing to do with compassionate healing."
When asked about his alleged exploitation of Duvall during an appearance on "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace," Dr. Phil McGraw was unrepentant. "Oh, I don't regret what I did," he said. "I regret that it was promoted in a way that people thought was unbecoming."
He announced plans to launch his own network after ending his show
In January 2023, CBS Media Ventures announced that "Dr. Phil" would be ending at the conclusion of that season, wrapping up the series' 21-season run. While the New York Post reported that advertisers had been fleeing the scandal-plagued show, the announcement teased that Dr. Phil McGraw's focus was shifting to a new project. "I am compelled to engage with a broader audience because I have grave concerns for the American family, and I am determined to help restore a clarity of purpose as well as our core values," he stated.
The following November, the nature of that mystery project was revealed in a video McGraw posted on X. According to McGraw, "Dr. Phil" would see a new life — not in syndication, but on his very own branded network, Merit Street Media.
A press release announced the premiere date of the newly named "Dr. Phil Primetime" in February 2024. This new iteration of the show is a lot like the original, following the same format but with a very specific mission at its crux. "American families and our core values are under attack," McGraw stated. "I love this country, and I believe family is the backbone of our society. Together we are going to stand strong and fight for the very soul and sanity of America and get things that matter back on track."