LOS ANGELES — Shelley Duvall, the actress who was so memorable in The Shining, has resurfaced after years on Dr. Phil, where she tells a TV audience that she is struggling with mental illness.
"I’m very sick, I need help," she says in an interview airing Friday.
A clip of the interview shows her shockingly changed, even given the passage of decades since she was in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror classic The Shining.
Besides that film, Duvall, 67, is best known for her turns in Robert Altman's Nashville in 1975, and for playing Olive Oyl opposite Robin Williams' in Popeye, the 1980 film version of the comic strip.
In the clip of Duvall's interview with Phil McGraw, her delusions and distorted perceptions are on display. She claims Williams, who died in 2014, is alive and "shapeshifting." She also talks about the alien "implants" in her leg and her fear of "the Sheriff of Nottingham."
The clip has drawn criticism from some on social media, including Kubrick's daughter Vivian, who said on Twitter that Duvall's appearance on the show is a form of "lurid and exploitive entertainment" and "appallingly cruel." Kubrick called for a boycott of the show.
My Letter to you @DrPhil
— Vivian Kubrick (@ViKu1111) November 17, 2016
Re: Your exploitive use of Shelly Duvall is a form of LURID ENTERTAINMENT and is shameful. pic.twitter.com/4f6MRTzr0A
Others questioned whether Duvall was competent to consent to such an interview.
. @DrPhil is not a good person. Do NOT showboat visibly ill #ShellyDuvall for ratings. She is not competent enough to grant you permission.
— phaylen (@phaylen) November 17, 2016
@DrPhil, you are capitalizing on her mental illness for personal gain. It's outright inexcusable. We stand with you, #ShelleyDuvall. https://t.co/t95UIPXwyF
— chandler owen (@earthtochandler) November 17, 2016
Representatives for Dr. Phil didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Instead, the show just posted a tweet urging viewers to watch.
Duvall, who has been living in Texas, last appeared onscreen in the 2002 independent film Manna from Heaven, according to her IMDb page. A producer and writer in addition to being an actress, some of her earliest films include Brewster McCloud and McCabe and Mrs. Miller.
