Phillips was born in Parris Island, South Carolina. His father, Claude Andrew Phillips, was a retired United States Marine Corps officer who won an Oklahoma bar from another Marine in a poker game on the way home from France after World War I. His mother, Edna Gertrude (nee Gaines), who had English ancestry, met his father in Oklahoma. According to his autobiography, Papa John, Phillips' father was a heavy drinker who suffered from poor health.
In September 2009, eight years after Phillips's death, his eldest daughter Mackenzie claimed that she and her father had a 10-year incestuous relationship. Mackenzie wrote of the relationship, which she said began when she was 19 years old in 1979, in her memoir High on Arrival. Mackenzie wrote that the relationship began after Phillips raped her while they were both under the influence of heavy narcotics on the eve of her first marriage. Mackenzie Phillips appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 23, 2009, and told Winfrey that her father injected her with cocaine and heroin. According to Phillips, the incestuous relationship ended when she became pregnant and did not know who had fathered the child. As her story goes, these doubts resulted in an abortion, which her father paid for, "and," she stated, "I never let him touch me again." Genevieve Waite, John's wife at the time,denies the allegations, saying they were inconsistent with his character. Michelle Phillips, John's second wife, also stated that she had "every reason to believe [Mackenzie's account is] untrue." Chynna Phillips, Michelle Phillips' daughter, stated that she believed Mackenzie's claims and that Mackenzie first told her about the relationship during a phone conversation in 1997, approximately 11 years after the supposed relationship had ended. Mackenzie's half-sister Bijou Phillips from her father's marriage to Genevieve Waite has stated that Mackenzie informed her of the relationship when Bijou was 13 years old, and the information had a devastating effect on Bijou's teenage years, stripping her of her innocence and leaving her "wary of [her] father." She also stated "I'm 29 now, I've talked to everyone who was around during that time, I've asked the hard questions. I do not believe my sister. Our father [was] many things. This is not one of them." Jessica Woods, daughter of Denny Doherty, said that her father had told her that he knew "the awful truth," and that he was "horrified at what John had done."

Q: what incest allegations?
A: In September 2009, eight years after Phillips's death, his eldest daughter Mackenzie claimed that she and her father had a 10-year incestuous relationship.

Q: were these claims true?
A: Chynna Phillips, Michelle Phillips' daughter, stated that she believed Mackenzie's claims and that Mackenzie first told her about the relationship during a phone conversation in 1997,

Q: how did it begin?
A: Mackenzie wrote that the relationship began after Phillips raped her while they were both under the influence of heavy narcotics on the eve of her first marriage.
Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
Mackenzie's half-sister Bijou Phillips from her father's marriage to Genevieve Waite has stated that Mackenzie informed her of the relationship when Bijou was 13 years old, Genevieve Waite, John's wife at the time,denies the allegations, saying they were inconsistent with his character. the incestuous relationship ended when she became pregnant and did not know who had fathered the child. Mackenzie Phillips appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 23, 2009, and told Winfrey that her father injected her with cocaine and heroin. Mackenzie Phillips appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 23, 2009, and told Winfrey that her father injected her with cocaine and heroin.
Mackenzie Phillips appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 23, 2009, and told Winfrey that her father injected her with cocaine and heroin.