Recently, Dr. Phil has been receiving a lot of backlash for making an appearance at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally. The iconic television show host holds accreditation in the field of clinical psychology and he has been regarded for the efforts he puts into bettering the lives of people who struggle through addiction and various other mental struggles.
After speaking on Trump and the state of the country at the time of the elections, Dr. Phil’s association with the former president, who doesn’t necessarily have the greatest reputation, ticked off a lot of his supporters. But there’s another instance that might cause a bigger uproar of hate directed towards him.
Dr. Phil’s involvement with Britney Spears from years ago may come back to haunt him
In 2008, the court had announced that Britney Spears’ ex-husband, Kevin Federline would be given full custody of their two children, and when the pop star refused to hand over their sons, Jayden James and Sean Preston, the police had to step in to intervene.
After a confrontation that lasted for hours, Spears was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to receive help. However, in an attempt to confide and seek help from a trusted professional, her parents had reached out to Dr. Phil (via Reuters).
The TV host, whose name is Phil McGraw went on to speak about the idea of doing a show with Spears in hopes that it would help other individuals who were going through the same ordeals as the Oop! I Did It Again singer.
But after visiting Spears, the 74-year-old decided to cancel his plans for the special as it wasn’t the right time for her to do it. He addressed it through a statement on his website (via CBS).
According to Reuters, Lynne and Jamie Spears’ business manager claimed that the family’s invitation was only an attempt to help the pop star, but not to publicize the nature of the situation she was in. It’s stated that her condition was so bad that her aunt, Chanda McGovern told Us Weekly that her niece needed to be on suicide watch.
Looking back at it, Dr. Phil did the right thing by giving Spears the space she needed to recover. However, it wasn’t the greatest idea to give his audience, and the world an entire overview of why he chose to cancel their scheduled meeting for his show.
Dr. Phil’s support for Donald Trump backfires
The rally wasn’t the only time Dr. Phil had appeared alongside Donald Trump as he interviewed the former president for his network earlier this year. The host revealed that he doesn’t endorse presidential candidates but he did believe that Trump’s felony conviction was premeditated.
He also made it very clear while speaking at the former president’s rally by only praising Trump for being “as tough as an old army boot” despite the legal struggles and criticism he has faced over the years (via Deadline). He said,
[I’m] not here just to stand up for Donald J. Trump. Lord knows, he doesn’t need me to stand up for him. He’s tough as an old army boot. He’s got lots of enemies, different groups that are scared, and between them, they have impeached him, indicted him, raided him, railroaded him, shot him and sued him. And where is he? He is still standing.
Dr. Phil also went on to admit that he may not need to agree with everything the 78-year-old presidential candidate says but suggested that it is Trump’s “excellence” in what he does that needs to be appreciated. Here’s what people have had to say about Dr. Phil’s speech on social media:
When you find out the she wasn’t the villain but Dr. Phil was… pic.twitter.com/wggvvgwNwE
— Jzon Azari (@JzonAzari) October 27, 2024
I like Oprah Winfrey but I’ll never forgive her for making Dr. Phil famous.
— Captain Obvious™️ (@TheFungi669) October 27, 2024
i haven’t paid close attention to him but i did not realize Dr. Phil is this much of a clown pic.twitter.com/nNe05jMtT1
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 27, 2024
The five-time PRISM Award-winning personality urged the participants of the rally to “push back against intimidation tactics” because voters always seem to use the internet to bring down the opposition.
But while Dr. Phil tried to give the country reasons enough to vote for Trump, it was comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s jokes at the rally that also gave people reasons not to side with the former president.
However, what we see on the internet is a fraction of what voters believe in, so it’s hard to say if any of this actually had an impact on Trump’s case to become the 47th President of the United States.
