Bizarre lawsuit claims Dr. Phil held woman captive with naked man

By Eriq Gardner

One of the strangest lawsuits we've seen in awhile has been filed against Dr. Phil, claiming he falsely imprisoned and "brainwashed" a California woman.

In a crazy-sounding complaint filed yesterday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Shirley Dieu claims that she was held captive by "Dr. Phil" McGraw on October 11, 2007 in a residence on Santa Monica Blvd. She says that the building was surrounded by 12-feet walls and fences, restraining her from trying to escape. During the alleged captivity, Dieu says she was "forced to be in the same room with a completely naked live man while he exposed his entire naked body, genitals and all" (paranoid underlining not ours).

Dieu claims personal and mental injuries and cites "brainwashing" as a cause of action too, having been programmed to believe she was getting real therapy from a real licensed doctor. We're pretty sure "brainwashing" isn't a legitimate cause of action, and if that's not weird enough, Dieu also says that Dr. Phil touched her on her left breast during a therapy session two days earlier.

It's probably not a shock that the woman is representing herself in court. But whether Dr. Phil is really a licensed doctor and whether his license has been revoked for having a sexual relationship with a teenage client has been subject to a lot of Internet chatter. 

Last year, a complaint was filed against the talk show host with the California Board of Psychology claiming that Dr. Phil was practicing without a license when he got involved in the hospitalization of Britney Spears. Dr. Phil's "practice" was examined in a column for The New York TImes and reportedly, participants who go on his show sign a contract that includes a provision that he is not actually medically treating them. 

CBS, which distributes his show, did not respond immediately to a request for comment.