Backstabbing Sisters: Christy's side

"I believe that my parents abused me," Christy asserts. "I remember my mother cut my fingernails until they bled and then she would put them in rubbing alcohol."

"That is simply not true. No one in our family was abused as a child," Stacy says. "Christy is a liar, and I think she does it for attention."

Christy continues her remembrances. "For punishment, my mother beat me with a horse whip while I was wet and naked in the bathtub," she says. "I remember my father beat me with a belt until I had bleeding welts." 

"We would get a spanking occasionally, but he never spanked us until we bled," Stacy clarifies. "I don't know why Christy won't let these allegations die."

Christy says, "She's lying. She was not abused, but my brother and I both were. I want the cycle of abuse in my family to stop, and I'm willing to speak out as much as I need to."

Turning to her sister, Stacy says, "Mom says she never remembers ever giving you a spanking."

"I'm sure she doesn't!" Christy says angrily. "She doesn't want to remember that. Who would want to admit to being so horrible?"

Dr. Phil reads a statement from Christy and Stacy's mother: "She said: ‘I never physically abused Christy. I don't know how to abuse a child. Christy was a pleasant child and gave us no reason to discipline her. Torture is a ridiculous word. Christy is my daughter and I will always love her. It was Christy's choice to break off communication.'"

 

Turning to Christy, he says, "Your mom says it never happened, but your brother, who isn't here, agrees with you and supports your version of what happened."

 

Addressing Stacy, Dr. Phil says, "Why would he support that if it isn't true?" 

"Because they've come up with this idea that they're going to get a book deal about how tortured they were. They compare themselves to A Child Called It. They say my mom's like Mommy Dearest and Sybil.  And it's all a scheme to get money off of a book," she tells Dr. Phil. 

 

Dr. Phil gets right to the point. "Are you abusing your children?" he asks Stacy.

"Absolutely not!" she says.

 

"Is your husband a pedophile?" Dr. Phil probes.

 

"No, he is not," she answers.

In the audience, Alan nods his head, refuting Stacy. Dr. Phil turns to him. "Are you saying he is a pedophile?"

"Yes, sir," Alan says.

Dr. Phil wants Alan to understand the gravity of his statement. "That is a very serious allegation you're making, and you're making it on national television about somebody. Are you prepared to back that up?" he asks. "Have you ever met this guy?" 

"No, I have not, but I've seen the forensic report. I've seen the pictures," Alan replies. 

"I don't know him either, so I'm not disagreeing with you," Dr. Phil tells Alan. "When you step up and say, ‘Yes, he is a pedophile,' tell me what evidence you have that this man has molested a child." 

"Anybody who would have that much child pornography on a computer is one step away from it. That is not an appropriate thing to have," Alan explains.

Dr. Phil observes that when Stacy discovered her husband was looking at pornography, she left him immediately. After about a month, they reconciled. Turning to Christy, he says, "You say he paid her off with plastic surgery."

"Absolutely," Christy replies. "She filed a police report against him, Dr. Phil. And as soon as he paid for the plastic surgery, you changed your story."

"That's not true. You told me there was child porn on the computer. You said I had to report it. I told you, ‘I haven't seen it. I shouldn't have to report it,'" Christy tells her sister. "You told me that if I didn't, that they would consider me an accomplice and take my children away from him."

"You are an accomplice!" Christy says. She turns to Dr. Phil. "Let's take a lie detector test, Dr. Phil. I volunteer."

"You know what? I'll just take you up on that," Dr. Phil tells Christy. 

They shake hands.

Addressing Bethany, Dr. Phil says, "You said that your aunt Christy e-mailed you and said your dad was going to kill you?"  

"Yes. And that both of my parents were going to go to prison because the things that they're doing are wrong," she elaborates. 

"Did you do that?" Dr. Phil asks Christy. "Did you send her an e-mail that said, ‘I'm sorry that your mom is going to prison'?"

"I said that I'm sorry that this has upset their family, but what's going on in their home with the child abuse and the pornography, they deserve to go to prison," Christy clarifies. 

Dr. Phil muses over her statement. "We're talking about abuse here. It seems to me that e-mailing an innocent child and making those allegations, and threatening that they're going to go to prison, is in and of itself clearly abusive," he says sternly. 

 

Voice quavering, Stacy speaks up. "You've seen them five times in your whole life. You don't know my kids' middle names. You don't know their birthdays," she tells Christy. "It amazes me that you can be such an authority of what's going on in our home."

"If what you're saying is true, why has there been no action taken?" Dr. Phil asks Christy. "Why did Child Protective Services say this has been ruled out?" 

"Well, Dr. Phil, how many times does CPS go someplace and unless the kids have bruises on them or the house is filthy, they don't do anything?" Christy responds. 

Stacy voices her objections. "A forensic investigator who specializes in child abuse investigated all of our children," she says. "You can't keep seven kids quiet."

"Is it possible that you're wrong?" Dr. Phil asks Christy. 

"I don't believe so," she says. 

"Is it possible that because of what happened in your perception " what happened to you as a child " is it possible that if and because you believe that, that you are so sensitized to this?" Dr. Phil asks Christy.

"I would agree to that. I believe that my childhood did make me overly sensitive to abuse," she replies. 

"Do you think that Child Protective Services just missed it? Do you think the Midwife's Services just missed it?" Dr. Phil probes. 

Christy answers in the affirmative to both questions.

Dr. Phil wonders if Christy has been bullying the officials who were investigating her allegations. "Here's what you wrote to the police: ‘I promise that I would raise hell if you did nothing in this case. I believe I promised a press conference making you look like total crap if nothing was done. I refuse to believe that it could not be prosecuted in some way, and I am preparing to turn over a complete copy of the report to the press. I hope you enjoy the reviews your department gets. Let the DA know this is all on her head. If you don't like what I'm going to

do, talk to her about it. I suggest raincoats for everyone, because the S is going to be coming down so deep for everyone, you're going to need lifeboats to get out of it ... Tell the DA I hope her children never run into him, but since she won't do anything about him, she'll just have to take that chance. How old are they? He likes them young. Fixing to raise Holy Hell, signed Christy.'"

 

Christy does not back down from her statement. "I firmly believe you have to speak out on family violence," she tells Dr. Phil. 

Stacy wonders when the conflict is going to end. "We live in a town of 20,000 people," she says, emotionally. "You have ruined our lives in that town. None of that is true."

"If the abuse is going on, I'm not sorry," Christy replies.

"If you are wrong, if her husband is not involved in child pornography, if he is not a pedophile as you allege, are you willing to apologize, and step back from this and leave them alone?" Dr. Phil asks Christy. 

"Absolutely. I want nothing to do with them regardless," she says. "I'm here to speak out on family violence and stopping it."

"But you don't have any evidence of family violence here. What is your evidence for any family violence here at all? You've only seen these children five times in their lives," Dr. Phil reminds her. "If this isn't just vindictiveness or motivated by whatever, why did you file fraud charges against [Stacy] with her licensing agency?"

"Because I have serious concern with her being a midwife and doing exams in her home, with what I believe is going on in her home," Christy explains. 

"You made the allegation that she was fraudulently billing and doing something with birth certificates. What does that have to do with protecting children?" Dr. Phil probes. 

"It's gotten blown all out of proportion from the beginning," Christy sighs. 

"Oh, I agree," Dr. Phil says. "Here's what I know: I know that we have to be super sensitive to children at risk. I think we have to take every allegation seriously. I think those who make those allegations maliciously should be seriously prosecuted and punished … You've agreed to take polygraphs and we're just going to take you up on that and do that, then we will be back here again and we will continue this conversation."