Dr. Phil McGraw

Phil McGraw got married to cheerleader Debbie Higgins McCall in 1970. However, their marriage was annulled after three years due to personal conflicts.

McGraw began dating Robin Jo Jameson in 1973 and married her after a few years. They have two children named Jay and Jordan.

Phillip McGraw was born in Vinita, Oklahoma, in the US on 1st September 1950 to mother Anne Geraldine and father Joseph J McGraw, who worked as an equipment supplier. His father had a lifelong aim of becoming a psychologist, which he later achieved. He had three sisters, Deana, Donna, and Brenda. They grew up in the oilfields of North Texas.

He studied at the Shawnee Mission North High School in Overland Park, Kansas. A talented athlete, he was awarded a football scholarship to the University of Tulsa. There he played as a middle linebacker under coach Glenn Dobbs.

He received his BA in psychology from the Midwestern State University and later earned an MA in experimental psychology and a Ph. D. in clinical psychology from the University of North Texas. Then he joined his father in Wichita Falls, Texas, where the latter had started his private practice in psychology.

Phil McGraw and his father jointly ran their private practice for a few years and then joined a successful businesswoman from Texas named Thelma Box to create the ‘Pathways’ seminar. It was an experience-based training program that proved to be a massive success. After a few years, McGraw signed an agreement for the sale of his Pathways seminar stock for $325,000.

Later in 1990, along with lawyer Gary Dobbs, McGraw co-founded Courtroom Sciences Inc (CSI). It eventually became a profitable venture which advised Fortune 500 companies and helped injured plaintiffs in achieving settlements. McGraw eventually gave up his practice of psychology.

His legal consulting firm was hired by Oprah Winfrey in 1995 for the Amarillo Texas beef trial. The case ended after three years with a victory for Oprah, for which she was immensely grateful to him. Therefore, she invited him to her show and he began appearing weekly as a relationship and life strategy expert from April 1998.

He published his bestselling book ‘Life Strategies: Doing What Works, Doing What Matters’ in 1999. Over the next few years, he continued to publish several other bestsellers, such as ‘Relationship Rescue’ and ‘The Ultimate Weight Solution Food Guide’.

After Dr. Phil found popularity in Oprah Winfrey’s show, he decided to launch his own talk show ‘Dr. Phil’. The show debuted on 16th September 2002. In the show, he offers advice in the form of ‘life strategies’ based on his experience as a clinical and forensic psychologist. The show has proved to be a success and has been nominated for numerous ‘Daytime Emmy Awards’.

The show covers many topics, such as weight loss, financial planning, autistic children, unhappy marriages, and dysfunctional families. It has a serious tone, with occasional humor. Despite its success, McGraw’s advice and methods have been criticized by some psychotherapists and other mental health professionals. ‘The National Alliance on Mental Illness’ called his conduct in an episode ‘unethical’ as well as ‘irresponsible’.

The popularity of the show has led to several spin-off shows such as ‘The Doctors’ which started airing in 2008. It is an hour-long program presented by McGraw and his son Jay McGraw. The show has received high ratings and also airs in several other countries such as Canada, Mexico, and Finland besides the USA.