One Day at a Time Star Reveals Set Secrets: Cocaine and Wine Breaks

When Mackenzie Phillips talks about her days on One Day at a Time, she’s not holding back. The 66-year-old actress recently opened up to Fox News about what really went on behind the scenes of the hit Norman Lear sitcom, and it’s a stark reminder of how differently the entertainment industry operated in the 1970s and’80s—and how differently addiction affects people, even when they’re sharing the same destructive habits.

Phillips was blunt about it: during lunch breaks on the set of the show that made her and costar Valerie Bertinelli household names, the two would drive to Phillips’house, jump in the pool, drink wine, and use cocaine. The casual way she describes it—poolside, midday, between takes—speaks volumes about the culture of that era. But here’s the part that matters most: Phillips acknowledges that while Bertinelli participated, Bertinelli didn’t develop the kind of addiction that would define Phillips’own life. For Phillips, the drug use spiraled into something darker, resulting in her being fired from One Day at a Time not once, but twice during the show’s nine-season run from 1975 to 1984.

What makes Phillips’confession significant is that she’s not trying to drag Bertinelli down with her. In fact, she explicitly notes that Bertinelli has spoken openly about her own past drug use, so Phillips feels she’s not exposing anything new. Bertinelli herself has written extensively about cocaine in her 2008 memoir Losing It, recalling that she and her then-fiancé Eddie Van Halen held vials of the drug while filling out questionnaires for their wedding priest. She’s also discussed how her relationship with Van Halen, which they married into in 1981, descended into drugs and alcohol—a relationship she’s described as anything but a soulmate situation.

The difference between the two women’s trajectories is telling. Both used, both were caught up in the culture of the time, but only one struggled with the kind of addiction that derailed a career and required intervention. Phillips has said she’s grateful she got caught—that it became a turning point. Van Halen, who died in October 2020 at age 65, never fully escaped those demons, and his marriage to Bertinelli reflected that darker path. For Bertinelli, the drugs were part of a toxic relationship; for Phillips, they became a battle she had to fight.

This isn’t a scandal exposé dressed up as celebrity gossip. It’s a window into how substance abuse played out differently for two women in the same workplace, at the same time, doing the same things. And it underscores a truth that addiction specialists know well: access and opportunity don’t determine destiny. Genetics, temperament, circumstance, and luck all play a role. Phillips got caught. She got help. She survived. Not everyone does.