Dr. Phil Accused of Trapping Woman, Touching Her Breast

LOS ANGELES (CN) - Television shrink Dr. Phil trapped a woman in a Hollywood studio with a naked man, "brainwashed" her and touched her left breast, the woman claims in Superior Court.

Shirley Dieu says Phil McGraw, known as "Dr. Phil" on his daytime TV show, counseled her in October 2007 at a studio on Santa Monica Blvd.

She says she wasn't allowed to leave the building, which was surrounded by 12-foot walls and fences, and was deprived of sleep, food and a phone to call for help.

She claims McGraw touched her left breast during an Oct. 9, 2007 therapy session. "Plaintiff was afraid to say something at the time," the lawsuit states.

McGraw and his production team allegedly forced Dieu to "be in the same room with a completely naked live man while he exposed his entire naked body, genitals and all."

The naked man was hired intentionally to traumatize Dieu, she claims.

Dieu, an apparent former guest on the "Dr. Phil Show," adds that she was publicly humiliated by "edited tapings depicting her as a different personality other than her own."

She claims she was "brainwashed to trust her captives" and "programmed to believe that she was getting real therapy from a real licensed doctor," though McGraw is not licensed to practice therapy in California.

Dieu demands "unlimited" actual and punitive damages for false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, indecent exposure, brainwashing, public ridicule and humiliation, mental and physical abuse, assault and battery, negligence and fraud.

Defendants include McGraw, Paramount Pictures, producers Sarah Nord and Ashley Bloom and Dr. Frank Lawlis, a regular consultant on the show.

Dieu is acting as her own attorney.

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