NEWSValerie Bertinelli and Mackenzie Phillips Would 'Snort Coke' and Drink Wine While Filming 'One Day a Time'
Mackenzie Phillips was eventually fired from the sitcom due to her addiction struggles.
June 1 2026, Updated 10:43 a.m. ET
While Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli were innocent enough while portraying sisters on One Day a Time, behind the scenes, the two were anything but.
In a new interview, Phillips admitted she and the actress used to do drugs together when they a had a break from filming.
'This Might Surprise You...'
Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli would do drugs and drink alcohol during their lunch break while filming 'One Day at a Time.'
"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, 66, spilled in a new interview.
"But Valerie talks about it openly, so it's not like I'm pulling her covers or anything. 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," she continued of her own struggles, which eventually led to her taking a leave of absence and being cut from the show.
Mackenzie Phillips Is Glad She Got Caught Using Drugs
Mackenzie Phillips admitted they would sometimes do coke in their dressing rooms.
Phillips admitted they would also dabble in drugs on set, spilling, "We would do coke together in the dressing room and stuff. I just happened to be the one that got caught. And thank God I got caught, you know?"
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'One Day a Time' ran from 1975 to 1984.
As Phillips mentioned, Bertinelli, 66, has discussed her past drug use publicly.
"I am a prude now but I [partook] as well for a few years there until I just couldn't take it anymore. Cocaine was everywhere and easy to get," the Food Network star shared on the "Literally With Rob Lowe" podcast.
The Parks and Recreation alum, 61, who is now sober, also had regrets over his partying past.
"It was before the bill had become due and we just didn't know. Not only that ... people were saying it was good for you," Rob Lowe, 62, recalled. "It helped you think, it was what 'successful' people did in our industry. All the people you admired did it."
Drugs Took a Toll on Valerie Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen's Marriage
Valerie Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen married in 1981 and separated 20 years later.
"I got tired after a while of hating the birds chirping. When I would hear birds chirping, I would just get so tense. It took me years before I enjoyed a sunrise and enjoyed the birds chirping," the mother-of-one said. "It's like, 'I was going to stop three bumps ago and I didn't and here I am and the birds are chirping, Goddammit! Why did I do this!'"
Though Bertinelli was able to shake off her bad habits, the same couldn't be said for ex-husband Eddie Van Halen — who died from throat cancer in 2020 at age 65 — as his addiction led to their divorce.
"We all have a toolbox that we go to when we need to suppress any kind of emotion that we don't want to feel, any kind of pain that we don't want to feel," she said. "I know that Ed's toolbox was full of drugs and alcohol."
