Dr Phil didn’t regret controversial 2016 interview with Shelley Duvall despite backlash
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/CNN/Getty Images/CBS
Dr. Phil said he had no regrets about the controversial 2016 interview with Shelley Duvall despite heavy backlash at the time.
The Shinning star Duvall recently died at the age of 75.
The actor's death was confirmed by her partner Dan Gilroy, who she had been with since 1989.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he said: "My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us. Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley."
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Duvall died in her sleep at her home in Blanco, Texas, following complications with diabetes.
The actor was certainly best known for her role in The Shining, a horror mystery which followed Jack Torrance, portrayed by Jack Nicholson, a winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel.
Duvall told The Hollywood Reporter that she was offered the lead female role in the movie by director Stanley Kubrick before she had even met him or read the script.
"He said I was great at crying," she recalled.
After that success, Dr. Phil McGraw interviewed Duvall in 2016 and the chat certainly ended up being a controversial one.
Duvall made multiple claims in the interview, including that her Popeye costar Robin Williams was still alive and that she had a 'whirring disc' inside of her.
The late actor also said in the interview she was 'very sick' and needs 'help'.
Much of Duvall's fanbase slammed the interview, with Vivian Kubrick, daughter of Kubrick, condemning the interview's lack of 'compassionate healing' in a statement released on Twitter.
Dr. Phil himself was asked if he regretted doing the interview, especially after Duvall revealed she was suffering from mental illness at the time.
Speaking on CNN's Who's Talking to Chris Wallace, Dr. Phil said: "I don't regret what I did. 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."
Directing addressing viewers who slammed the interview, Dr. Phil added: "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."