The Dirty Rotten Scandals docuseries unveiled shocking new claims against Dr. Phil McGraw and his long-running daytime talk show — including allegations of a toxic work environment, alleged corruption of care, exploitation and more.
E! aired the two-part special on Wednesday, March 4, which featured rare testimony from unnamed former employees of The Dr. Phil Show, show guests and experts who revealed their attempts to question Dr. Phil’s intentions behind the scenes.
Dr. Phil, who hosted his show from 2002 to 2023, addressed the allegations through his legal team.
“Dr. McGraw categorically denies the allegations referenced in this film,” read the statement. “These claims are not new and have previously been raised, thoroughly addressed, and refuted. They are false, misleading, and lack factual foundation.”
Midseason 2026 TV Schedule: See When Your Favorite Shows Will Air
The statement continued: “Any implication that Dr. McGraw or the production of the program engaged in improper, unethical, or unlawful conduct is inaccurate … the program operated with established standards and with the intent of providing resources, information, and support to participants and audiences.”
Keep scrolling for the biggest revelations about what took place behind the scenes:
Dr. Phil McGraw’s Alleged Scams Before His Talk Show
Investigative reporter and lead investigator Evan Allen shared her research into the scandal — which started with the early days in Dr. Phil McGraw’s career.
“If you look all the way back to the early ‘70s — when he would have been in his early 20s before he was Dr. Phil — he was Phil McGraw. He was a manager of the Grecian Health Spa, which had been selling these pretty expensive time memberships,” Allen claimed. “They were like $150 to $700 memberships. They’re advertising these memberships in the newspaper — and they suddenly shut the doors and just vanish.”
Allen found out that McGraw and others were accused of “membership scam,” adding, “That kind of behavior of selling expensive spa memberships to a spa — that suddenly ceases to exist — looks an awful lot like selling Shape Up. That was a weight loss supplement that he was marketing as 22 pills that you take every day depending on whether you’re apple-shaped or pear-shaped.”
She continued: “A few years later, he had to pay a $10.5 million settlement to people who had purchased Shape Up because they didn’t do anything.”
(McGraw later denied any wrongdoing.)
Allen also questioned McGraw holding a doctorate in clinical psychology but ceasing to renew his license to practice psychology in 2006 — despite his talk show leaning on the concept of him being a doctor. (In 2002, the California Board of Psychology determined that because The Dr. Phil Show was more about entertainment than psychology, McGraw did not need a license.)
Claims Against Dr. Phil McGraw From His Employees
In February 2022, several then-current and former Dr. Phil employees anonymously made claims of verbal abuse, fear and intimidation by their superiors amid a Buzzfeed news investigative report.
“It’s a clickbait story because Dr. Phil ‘sells tickets.’ BuzzFeed was offered dozens of current and former staff to talk to but when the reporter started hearing the truth which ruined their salacious narrative they declined,” McGraw’s attorney, H. Patrick Morris, told Us Weekly in a statement at the time. “Dr. Phil focuses on content for the program and doesn’t get involved in staff relations, but the staff at the program in no way use ethnic origin such as described.”
The lawyer added: “’Manipulation’ is ridiculous. These guests find a caring place, a safe space to face their challenges, even if told what they need to hear instead of what want to hear.”
Dirty Rotten Scandals featured testimonials from various crew members — most of whom refused to appear on screen. Instead, audio of their claims was played where they referred to Dr. Phil McGraw as a “manipulative egomaniac” who ran a “dysfunctional and immoral” show.
They claimed they were told they had to do “absolutely everything” to keep guests on set for the sake of the show. Ultimately, “one guest out of 50” left in a better place while others would feel exploited for ratings.
Several Guests Speak Out About What They Endured
Dirty Rotten Scandals introduced several guests who appeared on The Dr. Phil Show throughout the years. Emily Jones was forced to go on the talk show in 2011 by her mother after she got pregnant as a teenager. She recalled being coerced by production into doing an interview that left her publicly humiliated after Dr. Phil McGraw shamed her life choices.
Angelique Robledo, meanwhile, survived suspected attempted fetal abduction and arson, which she was then asked to address on the show. Instead, she recalled being mocked before Dr. Phil used their conversation to promote his own book.
Marcy Newberry, who was molested by her brother, was convinced to tell her story on the show in an effort to help her family. She was allegedly forced to talk to producers in detail about the sexual assault after they threatened not to pay for her and her family’s travel home.
Marcy was then forced to face her brother for the first time in years while listening to him describe how he assaulted her. She nearly died by suicide after filming the segment and revealed in Dirty Rotten Scandals that after The Dr. Phil Show, she was admitted into a psychiatric facility. Marcy’s mother’s mental health declined, she lost touch with her father and her brother is in prison for five years on child pornography charges.
Dave and Marla Thomas were also featured in the docuseries after their son — DJ — was a guest in 2017. After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, DJ went missing before The Dr. Phil Show found him and brought him on as a guest. He accepted help in an inpatient treatment facility promoted by Dr. Phil — but he was ultimately kicked out multiple times before being placed under arrest. He has since gotten proper treatment.
Elsewhere in the doc, investigative reporter and lead investigator Evan Allen got a hold of the release The Dr. Phil Show would provide its guests.
“Dr. Phil does not and will not administer individual group or medical therapy. You have to agree that you will not sue for invasion of privacy, defamation, infliction of emotional distress,” she read. “You give up all your rights to go on the show before you go on it. And then you go on a show and you’re horrifically humiliated in front of America. Then you’re like, ‘Oh, I signed away the rights to do anything about this. I can’t even talk about it.’”
Dr. Phil’s Associates Accused of Assisting With the Scams
Investigative reporter and lead investigator Evan Allen called into question the mental health facilities suggested on The Dr. Phil Show, saying, “All of these segments with the plug for the treatment facility, it was just obvious advertising. The show has a predictable arc where you go from seeing the person at their worst to Dr. Phil passes judgment and then he says, ‘I’m going to send you to the best addiction treatment facility in the country.’ There are tons of treatment centers linked to the show: Aspen Educational Origins, Turnabout Ranch, Creative Care and an enormous number of others.”
She continued: ”Our original tipster was like, ‘He must be profiting off that somehow. We wondered the same thing. You can’t recommend treatment programs because they paid you rather than because you think the facility is in the best interests of the patient. We didn’t have any evidence Phil was getting paid but I felt incredibly suspicious.”
Anthony Haskins, who worked on The Dr. Phil Show for nearly two decades, was accused of being involved. He was referred to as the aftercare specialist on set who allegedly had a connection to the facilities recommended on the show. According to the doc, Anthony was allegedly kept on the treatment centers’ payroll as a consultant, which led to The Dr. Phil Show continuing to refer patients to places such as Creative Care, which is now closed.
Wendy McIntyre was investigating treatment centers in 2019 when she started to look into Creative Care and Anthony’s involvement. She recalled getting footage from people who lived in the same neighborhood as the facility of bodies being wheeled out after continued relapses and patients escaping.
She ultimately contacted Dr. Phil’s lawyers about his involvement with the facility, which is when she was told that the TV personality didn’t know Anthony had continued his alleged “dog and pony show for money” with Creative Care. Anthony, who wouldn’t speak with the doc producers, got fired at the time but he is currently still advertising himself as a life coach and mental health strategist.
The Other Overlap Between Recovery Programs and ‘The Dr. Phil Show’
Evan Allen recalled a conversation she had with a source from the show about the relationship with the treatment facilities, saying, “Our source told us [back then that] there was this new product being featured on the show called The Dr. Phil Path to Recovery. Our source told us that path recovery was being marketed as a way to get onto The Dr. Phil Show. We did a deep dive and one of the facilities that had purchased Patch to Recovery was a place called Inspirations. Even a cursory look at this facility makes you think, ‘This doesn’t seem like a very good facility.’ Over a two-year period, they called at least 180 times to report that kids were going missing from their facility. which is staggering. At the same time, The Dr. Phil Show was touting them as the nation’s leading addiction treatment center.”
She continued: ”We felt like Inspirations was getting marketing from The Dr. Phil Show — not because they were a good facility — but because they had purchased Path to Recovery. Then we were able to review a marketing call from somebody who was selling the Path to Recovery system. They said explicitly that if you purchase Path to Recovery then you have the chance to be on the show. They said, ‘Our job is to get your phones to ring and the admissions hopefully follow.’ We discovered the company that produces The Dr. Phil Show and the company that makes Path to Recovery are separate companies. Addiction treatment facilities pay the Path to Recovery people and The Dr. Phil Show. It gives them the opportunity to be on the show to receive marketing. So it’s not a straight line from A to B. It’s very hard to follow the money but you know the money’s going somewhere.”
Fox Renews ‘Best Medicine’ for Season 2
Lawsuit Against the Show
Before The Dr. Phil Show came to an end, Leah Rothman, who worked for over a decade as a segment producer, sued Phil McGraw in 2015 for allegedly causing her emotional distress and falsely imprisoning her. She claimed that a meeting occurred where Dr. Phil locked the door, yelled profanities and threatened employees for supposedly leaking internal information to the press.
The legal situation got messy when Rothman tried to get evidence in her lawsuit by accessing a database of videos from the Dr. Phil Show archives and recording some clips on her phone. Texas federal judge Rodney Gilstrap decided at the time that Rothman wasn’t entitled to a fair use defense for videos she took to aid her in the court battle.
The lawsuit was ultimately settled in 2018.
“She talked in particular about this meeting where she and a whole bunch of people — she says 300 — who worked on The Dr. Phil Show were put in a single room and Dr. Phil entered the room and demanded the door be locked,” reporter Evan Allen claimed based on paperwork and other anonymous testimonials. “Dr. Phil walks in and he says, ‘I have security guards at every door. Nobody leaves. I want to know who did it. You have 10 minutes to come forward.’ It was me, with you. Someone on staff had gotten an interview and they had tried to sell it. Dr. Phil had a deal with the outlet so he knew who had leaked it.”
The Boston Globe Investigation
In a 2017 investigation by The Boston Globe, allegations came out that The Dr. Phil Show endangered guests struggling with addiction by supplying them with alcohol and sometimes directing them to drug dealers to obtain substances.
Todd Herzog was mentioned in the coverage and on the docuseries after he made numerous appearances on The Dr. Phil Show. The Survivor alum later claimed that despite being in recovery, bottles of alcohol were intentionally left in his room so he would relapse before the show.
The show denied leaving alcohol out on purpose. After The Boston Globe published their exposé, reporter Evan Allen claimed Phil McGraw tried to silence the newspaper.
“We basically split our big reporting into two stories published on back to back days. We were getting tips faster than we could record them. Then we got this letter from Dr. Phil’s attorney demanding retraction. Just saying the whole story was wrong and we needed to take it all back. We were ready as part of the fight — and we were right. You can get sued all day long if you’re right,” she noted in Dirty Rotten Scandals. ”But they included something I’ve never seen before, a letter to the owner of the Boston Globe. This letter said, ‘If we sue you, it is going to be really expensive.’ It was a pretty clear financial threat. This was the only time in my career that’s ever happened but the Globe told us there was no appetite for a legal fight. So that was it. The project got shut down.”
She continued: “The Boston Globe isn’t supposed to get scared off by a legal threat. It bothers me. The single biggest regret I have in my whole career is not finishing the Dr. Phil investigation. Money buys silence. That’s true for producers, that’s true for guests and it’s true for reporters.”
In a statement at the end of the doc, The Boston Globe denied shutting down any further investigation, with a statement reading, “Having published two comprehensive articles that we stand by up to this day. The allegation is absolutely false.”
Where Is Dr. Phil Now?
According to the doc, after the end of his show, Dr. Phil moved back to Texas to launch his own network — Merit Street Media — in 2024. It filed for bankruptcy one year later. The production company has been accused by production partners of a “years-long fraudulent scheme,” which the company has denied.
