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Michelle Phillips Quotes

Michelle Phillips is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She rose to fame as a vocalist in the musical quartet The Mamas & the Papas in the mid-1960s. She later established a successful career as an actress in film and television in the 1970s.

A native of Long Beach, California, she spent her early life in Los Angeles and Mexico City, raised by her widowed father. While working as a model in San Francisco, she met and married John Phillips in 1962, and went on to co-found the vocal group the Mamas & the Papas in 1965. The band rose to fame with their popular singles "California Dreamin'" and "Creeque Alley", both of which Phillips co-wrote. They released five studio albums before their dissolution in 1970. Michelle Phillips is the last surviving member of the group. With John Phillips, she gave birth to a daughter, singer Chynna Phillips.

After the breakup of the Mamas & the Papas and her divorce from John Phillips, she transitioned into acting, appearing in a supporting part in The Last Movie before being cast as Billie Frechette in the critically acclaimed crime biopic Dillinger , for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. She went on to appear in numerous films throughout the 1970s including Ken Russell's Valentino , playing Natacha Rambova, and the thriller Bloodline . She released her first and only solo album, Victim of Romance, in 1977.

Phillips became a main cast member on the series Knots Landing from 1987 to 1993, portraying Anne Matheson, the mother of Paige Matheson . She subsequently had supporting roles in the comedy Let It Ride , and the psychological thriller Scissors .

✵ 4. June 1944
Michelle Phillips photo
Michelle Phillips: 10 quotes5 likes

Famous Michelle Phillips Quotes

“I would not let her work until she was eighteen, and believe me, since the time she was being strolled down the street in her stroller, people were saying, “Can I use her in my commercial? Can I put her in my movie?” “No!” But I did let her take any class that she wanted to take. Singing, acting, dancing…”

Michelle Phillips

On raising her daughter, Chynna Philips, The Huffington Post (August 25, 2016)

“I didn’t feel comfortable with American children. I certainly knew more about sex and drugs by the time I was eleven than they would ever know. My father used to ask me when I was thirteen if I needed a diaphragm. I said, ‘No, Dad, really, I’m still a virgin.’ He said, ‘you let me know when you’re not.”

Michelle Phillips

On returning to California after having spent her early childhood in Mexico City, Rolling Stone no. 259 (February 23, 1978)

“I was raised to be very independent. I was raised to believe I could do anything I wanted with my life. My father said I was lucky to be born a woman because "women can do anything they want" with their lives. Of course, I didn't realize until later that my father was giving me a slightly unrealistic view, but I think that [it] gave me a lot of confidence.”

Michelle Phillips

On her upbringing, The Arsenio Hall Show (1991)

“Cass gained a lot of strength from her public. Once she was a star, she wasn't afraid of anybody, and certainly not me.”

Michelle Phillips

On Cass Elliot, Regis Philbin's Lifestyles (1986)

“We toured in a Lear jet and that's the only way to fly, baby! Success is a bubble, though, and we knew the wonderful time we were having couldn't possibly last.”

Michelle Phillips

On the success of the Mamas & the Papas, The National http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/music/michelle-phillips-talks-about-the-mamas-and-the-papas-legacy (January 5, 2011)

“I've always had a reputation as the pretty girl. Pretty girls rarely get the good parts. We all have to do a film like The Burning Bed where we can really be degraded so that people think we can act.”

Michelle Phillips

The Chicago Tribune http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-07-05/entertainment/8602170918_1_michelle-phillips-mamas-papa-john (July 5, 1986)

Michelle Phillips Quotes

“I don't consider psychedelics hard drugs, [but] I also don't recommend that people take [them]. I think it's something that you either did in the sixties, or you just forget about it.”

Michelle Phillips

On drug use, Regis Philbin's Lifestyles (1986)

“I was so lucky to have been surrounded by really great actors. Everybody in that movie was a real actor: Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman, Richard Dreyfuss, Harry Dean Stanton. It was just a wonderful, wonderful experience for me and I had so much support and so much help and so much encouragement.”

Michelle Phillips

On her first acting role in Dillinger (1973), The Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chats-with-esperanza-spalding-michelle-phillips-lee_us_57b32bc0e4b0567d4f130aab (August 25, 2016)

“I like what’s happening to me now in every way. When you’re twenty, you handle it a lot differently than when you’re thirty—and I’m thirty-three. I was naïve enough to think it would be easy to get here. It wasn’t.”

Michelle Phillips

On maturing, Rolling Stone no. 259 (February 23, 1978)

“People assume that there must have been tension between us, but the truth is I wanted to be just like Cass. Cass liberated me; she stopped John [Phillips] trying to have too much control over me. She taught me a lot about feminism, and she always encouraged me, although I was obviously inferior to her as a singer.”

Michelle Phillips

On her relationship with Cass Elliot, The National (January 5, 2011)

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