In 1991, Phillips published an infamous tell-all memoir of her years as a Hollywood producer, titled You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again, which became a bestseller.

[2] In 1971, she and her husband, who had been a securities analyst for two years, moved to California to produce Steelyard Blues with Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland, released in 1973.

[8] In December 2007, Close Encounters was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

The book topped the New York Times bestseller list, but its revelations about high-profile film personalities, Hollywood's drug culture, and casting couch sensibilities drew ire from many former colleagues.

[12] She had one daughter, Kate Phillips-Wiczyk, who is married to Modi Wiczyk, co-founder of independent film and television studio Media Rights Capital.