Shelley Duvall Regretted Controversial ‘Dr. Phil’ Interview

Years before her death on July 11 at age 75, Shelley Duvall expressed regret about one of her most notable interviews. 

An appearance with Dr. Phil McGraw on his daytime talk show Dr. Phil in 2016 — in which she described herself as “very sick” — marked the wider public’s first glimpse in years of Duvall, then 71 and living in Texas outside the Hollywood spotlight. 

The interview, which became controversial for the way it depicted Duvall’s mental health at the time, ended with Duvall refusing McGraw’s proposed treatment. It included the actress describing alien-surveillance programs and her late Popeye costar Robin Williams as still alive.

Fans of The Shining star expressed outrage, with actress Mia Farrow posting on X that it was «upsetting and unethical to exploit Shelley Duvall at this vulnerable time in her life.” Vivian Kubrick, daughter of Shining director Stanley Kubrick, criticized the show’s lack of “compassionate healing” and called for a boycott. “Your exploitive use of Shelly Duvall is a form of LURID ENTERTAINMENT and is shameful,” she wrote on social media.

In a 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Duvall said of McGraw, 73, “I found out the kind of person he is the hard way.” She reportedly became visibly distressed at the mention of the talk show host’s name. 

“My mother didn’t like him, either,” she recalled at the time. “A lot of people, like [boyfriend Dan Gilroy], said, ‘You shouldn’t have done that, Shelley.’ ” McGraw, she added, “started calling my mother. She told him, ‘Don’t call my daughter anymore.’ But he started calling my mother all the time trying to get her to let me talk to him again.”

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In a statement to the outlet following the controversy, a spokesperson for Dr. Phil said, «We view every Dr. Phil episode, including Miss Duvall and her struggle with mental illness, as an opportunity to share relatable, useful information and perspective with our audience… With no one else offering help, our goal was to document the struggle and bring amazing resources to change her trajectory.»

«I don’t regret what I did,” McGraw told CNN in 2023. «What I did regret is that it was promoted in a way that people thought was unbecoming… We worked with her for over a year off-camera after that fact. Providing her opportunities for inpatient and outpatient psychiatric care — I can’t tell you the extent we went to.”

Duvall died on July 11 in her sleep from complications due to diabetes. Following her years-long absence from film, Duvall made a comeback in 2023’s indie horror movie The Forest Hills. «Acting again — it’s so much fun. It enriches your life,» she told PEOPLE in 2023.