Dr. Phil said that he had no regrets regarding his controversial interview with Shelley Duvall, which led to the actress withdrawing from the public eye.
As previously reported, Duvall sadly passed away today (July 11) as confirmed by her life partner Dan Gilroy in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter.
"My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us. Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley," he said.
Duvall's performance as Wendy Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is widely regarded as a landmark in horror cinema.
Her portrayal of Wendy Torrance, the wife of Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson), is often described as raw, vulnerable, and deeply unsettling.
Duvall withdrew from the spotlight in 2002 but an appearance on Dr. Phil in 2016 left fans concerned for her wellbeing.
During the interview, Duvall appeared distressed, openly acknowledging her struggles. "I'm very sick. I need help," she told Dr. Phil, who responded: "Well, that’s why I’m here."
The episode, titled A Hollywood Star’s Descent Into Mental Illness: Saving The Shining’s Shelley Duvall, featured Duvall making a series of bizarre statements.
She claimed to receive messages from a "shapeshifting" Robin Williams, who had died two years earlier and spoke of malevolent forces targeting her.
Despite the show's purported goal of empowerment and destigmatizing mental illness, it faced heavy criticism for being exploitative and sensationalist.
Among the critics was Stanley Kubrick’s daughter, Vivian, who publicly condemned the episode, per Entertainment Weekly.
Though the episode never aired in full, its impact was profound. It raised questions about Duvall’s mental state and led her to withdraw further from the public eye.
"It did nothing for her," Gilroy remarked about the show to the New York Times. "It just put her on the map as an oddity."
Dr. Phil McGraw addressed the criticism during an appearance on CNN's Who's Talking to Chris Wallace.
"I don't regret what I did," McGraw told journalist Chris Wallace. "I regret that it was promoted in a way that people thought was unbecoming."
"There are parts of that story that I haven't talked about and won't talk about in specific, but I can say generally that we worked with her family [and] with her for over a year off camera, after the fact, providing her opportunities for inpatient and outpatient psychiatric care. I can't tell you the extent we went through," he explained.
Addressing critics who accused him of "showboating the visibly ill," McGraw retorted: "And the people that were critical of it, nobody ever asked them what they ever did to try and help her. And the answer is not a damn thing."
In a 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Duvall reflected on her decision to participate in the interview, stating she "found out the kind of person [McGraw] is the hard way."
She added: "My mother didn't like him, either. A lot of people, like Dan [Gilroy, her partner], said, 'You shouldn't have done that, Shelley.'"
Following the episode's airing, Duvall claimed McGraw made persistent attempts to contact her.
"He started calling my mother," she said. "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."
In response to the controversy, a spokesperson for Dr. Phil stated the show's aim is to provide "relatable, useful information and perspective" and to combat the stigma associated with mental illness.
The spokesperson added that the show offered Duvall extensive support, which she ultimately declined.
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