“One Day at a Time” star Mackenzie Phillips says she and Valerie Bertinelli did cocaine on lunch breaks

Leigh BlickleyMon, June 1, 2026 at 2:54 PM UTC

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Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli in 2022
Credit: Christopher Willard/ABC via GettyKey Points -

Mackenzie Phillips claims she and costar Valerie Bertinelli did cocaine during lunch breaks on the sitcom One Day at a Time, which aired from 1975 to 1984.

The former child star struggled with addiction for years before getting sober in 2010.

Bertinelli has opened up about her own drug use over the years.

Mackenzie Phillips isn't afraid to share personal details from her time on the 1970s sitcom One Day at a Time.

During a recent interview, Phillips admitted that she and costar Valerie Bertinelli used to do drugs and drink alcohol on their lunch breaks. She shared the anecdote with Fox News Digital on Sunday when asked for a memory that might surprise fans.

"Oh, I don't know. Oh, okay. So this might surprise you that during lunch break, Valerie and I would drive to my house, get in the pool, drink wine, and snort coke," Phillips told the outlet.

She clarified that she wasn't out of line sharing that information, as Bertinelli has discussed her history with drug use.

"But Valerie talks about it openly, so it's not like I'm pulling her covers or anything," Phillips said. "The thing was that I was the, you know, Valerie didn't have the kind of addiction that I had. She didn't have addiction."

Entertainment Weekly reached out to Bertinelli for comment.

Phillips, the daughter of folk-rock musician John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas and his first wife, Susan Adams, has struggled with addiction throughout her life.

During One Day at a Time's third season in 1977, she was arrested for disorderly conduct and, due to her drug and alcohol abuse, producers allegedly ordered her to take a six-week break after she began arriving late and was reportedly incoherent during rehearsals. She was ultimately fired in 1980, went to rehab, and was invited back to the show a year later. But, after relapsing, Mackenzie was let go and her character, Julie Cooper Horvath, was written off the series.

Mackenzie told Fox News Digital that she and Bertinelli would also snort cocaine in the dressing room, noting, "I just happened to be the one that got caught. And thank God I got caught, you know?"

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Mackenzie has been sober since 2010.

Valerie Bertinelli and MacKenzie Phillips on 'One Day at a Time'
Credit: CBS via Getty

From 1975 to 1984, Bertinelli starred as Mackenzie's (Julie) younger teen sister, Barbara Cooper, on One Day at a Time. In her 2008 memoir, Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time, Bertinelli revealed that she tried cocaine for the first time with Mackenzie but took her drug use too far during her marriage to Eddie Van Halen in the '80s and '90s.

"The priest we tapped to perform the ceremony gave us questionnaires so he could get to know us better and offer more personal words. As we filled out the forms at home, we each held a little vial of coke," Bertinelli shared of her wedding day in her book.

"It doesn't really bode well for the marriage, I don't think," she told Todayin 2008.

The couple, who divorced in 2007, shares one child, son Wolfgang, 35, who is now a musician. Van Halen died in 2020.

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"We waited 10 years to have Wolfie," Bertinelli told The Bossticks podcast in March. "We went through a lot in those 10 years — basically the ‘80s, which I don’t remember too much of between the drugs and the alcohol."

"I’m not gonna lie, it was a lot of fun… but I would never — I would not do it again,” Bertinelli added.

The actress went on to marry financial planner Tom Vitale in 2011, but they divorced in 2022. She recently dated Mike Goodnough.

on Entertainment Weekly

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