Dr Phil: From Top TV Newscaster To Drunken Mom
Like most people who find their way onto Dr Phil’s stage, Christi has seen better days. She was once an Emmy Award-winning TV reporter. But this mother of two adult daughters now finds herself jobless, homeless, and estranged from her children.
Christi went from having it all to having nothing, and she said her spiral toward rock bottom started back in 2010. After a car accident, Christi said she became addicted to Oxycodone. Though she went to rehab and gave up pills, she replaced her addiction with alcohol. She said that she drinks due to her loneliness.
Dr Phil: Angry and Abusive Con Artist Mom
Heather is Christi’s 22-year-old daughter. She said that she wrote her mother off in the past, and that she knew Christi had problems with alcohol when Heather was 16. She thinks of her mother as a “con artist” and remembers her as “angry and abusive” during periods of drinking. Heather also said her mother used her money to buy drugs or pay household bills.
Haleigh, age 20, remembered realizing that something wasn’t right when the family got evicted the year Haleigh turned 15. That’s when her aunt filled her in on some of the things her mother had been struggling with. Haleigh said the chaos distracted her from school and other life goals. The girls have not seen their mother in two years.
Dr Phil: Mom Gets Violent At Homeless Shelter
Her daughters say she faked her own suicide after ruining their credit and getting them evicted. Can Dr Phil help this troubled alcoholic mother? (Ramona Kaulitzki / Shutterstock.com)
Unlike your average Dr Phil guest, Christi has plenty of on-camera experience, and she sat opposite Dr Phil onstage for a conversation. She admitted that she drank the morning of the show taping, at 4:33 a.m. because she needed the drink to fight off withdrawal symptoms. She said that her drinking has escalated since she was falsely accused and arrested.
What is she referring to? Dr Phil filled us in on some of the details by reading witness statements from the November 2014 incident in which Christi was arrested while staying at a women’s shelter. Witnesses seemed to indicate that Christi was the aggressor in the situation. “All of these women were saying that you were very violent,” Dr Phil said.
Dr Phil: Arrested At Denny’s
According to Christi, the police on the scene did not believe the witnesses. She remembered drinking a Steel Reserve beer to calm down. When the police asked if she had been drinking, she lied and wound up in handcuffs. What about the time she was arrested in a Denny’s after her daughter called the police on her.
In a taped interview, Haleigh recalled the Denny’s incident. She met her mother at 2 a.m. in the restaurant, where her mother had dogs and a bag of wine. Then Haleigh said her mother lashed out at her, saying she hated her and that she was a bad daughter. Christi’s recollection is only that her daughter had her arrested. Dr Phil rattled off a list of the consequences alcohol has brought to bear on Christi’s life. She agreed that drinking has taken over her life.
Dr Phil: She Told Her Daughter To Kill Herself
Next, Christi sat face to face with her daughters in an attempt at reconciliation. Haleigh recalled that Christi told her to kill herself when she was 9 years old in the parking lot of a grocery store. Christi pointed the finger back at her daughter, saying that Haleigh was the one who always talked about killing herself.
Dr Phil said he wanted the women to get real and seriously deal with the issue at hand. In particular, Christi seemed shocked when he and the audience ganged up on her. “I help people that really want to be helped, and I don’t help people that don’t,” Dr Phil said.
Dr Phil: Voicemail Suicide Note
Heather shared her own story in a pre-interview. She remembered her mother leaving her a voicemail shortly before a sheriff showed up to evict Heather. When she remembered to listen to the voicemail, she was devastated.
Christi claims that she left a voicemail because she didn’t want to face her daughter and could not be at home to witness another eviction as evidence of her failure. She also threatened to commit suicide, which Heather thought may have happened before she heard the message.
Dr Phil: Disappearance After Suicide Attempt
Christi recalled driving her Mercedes to a secluded vineyard area, where she planned to commit suicide. But a witness alerted authorities, and police quickly arrived on the scene. The only thing missing was Christi’s body. The girls thought that she had died.
Four months went by, and a call came in from an insane asylum in North Carolina. “When I realized that my mom had faked the suicide, I told the asylum not to contact me again,” Heather said, adding that Christi later blamed Heather for her suicide attempt.
Dr Phil: Alive or Dead?
“Every day, I don’t know if you are alive or dead,” Heather told her mother on Dr Phil’s stage. Haleigh admitted that she checks the obituaries when she has not heard from her mother.
Christi said she once used to be a good mother. “It took something pretty severe to make me get so depressed,” Christi said. Heather and Haleigh are also both disappointed that their mother made financial decisions in their names, and now they’re having to live with the consequences of her irresponsibility.
Dr Phil: Battling Alcohol Addiction
Dr Phil had a special offer for this #MIAMom. He extended an offer of help to her from Hannah’s House by Origins Recovery Center. Hopefully this is a first step toward a healthier future for this entire family. It’s sad to see the consequences affecting Christi’s daughters, but hopefully she can get the help that she needs.
Do you or someone close to you need resources for confronting alcohol addiction? Here are a few options to consider as you reach out for assistance.
- Alcoholics Anonymous
- National Association for Children of Alcoholics – 301-468-0985
- National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence – 800-622-2255
- Vital Intervention Professionals – 888-536-7847
Leave a Reply