'Unrecognizable' Shelley Duvall Gives Troubling Interview

Reveals struggle with mental illness to Dr. Phil; Kubrick daughter attacks 'exploitative entertainment'
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 17, 2016 10:32 AM CST

A near-unrecognizable Shelley Duvall tells Dr. Phil McGraw on an upcoming episode of his talk show, "I'm very sick. I need help." A preview for the show, which airs Friday, also shows 67-year-old Duvall telling McGraw she doesn't believe her one-time co-star Robin Williams is really dead, just "shape-shifting," and that she sees him sometimes. Duvall, who has been struggling with mental illness since exiting the spotlight, per Us, also tells McGraw she's being threatened by the Sheriff of Nottingham and that she believes she has "a worrying disc inside me," implanted under her skin. Duvall last acted in a film in 2002.

Vivian Kubrick, daughter of Stanley Kubrick, who directed Duvall in The Shining, isn't happy about the Dr. Phil episode and is calling for people to boycott it. "You are putting Shelley Duvall ‘on show’ while she is suffering from a pitiable state of ill health. Unquestionably, this is purely a form of lurid and exploitative entertainment—it’s appallingly cruel," Kubrick writes in an open letter to McGraw posted on Twitter. "Shelley Duvall was a movie star ... whatever dignity a mere unfortunate creature might have in this world, is denied her by your displaying her in this way." (More Dr. Phil McGraw stories.)

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