CBS Television Distribution's Dr. Phil will open its tenth season on Sept. 12 with an exclusive interview with Cindy and George Anthony, parents of Casey Anthony, who recently was acquitted of the murder of her two-year-old daughter, Caylee.
"Cindy and George have suffered a horrific loss with the untimely death of their granddaughter Caylee, and they have since endured an unprecedented public attack on their family," said the show's star, Dr. Phil McGraw, in a statement. "Have these attacks been warranted, or not? I looked them straight in the eye and asked some very tough questions. Despite living under a ‘media microscope' for years, THEIR story has never really been told and there's so much more to it than we've heard in the media. Throughout this extensive interview, we explore every detail of their ordeal, and they answer every question I know will be on our viewers' minds. Nothing is off limits during this interview."
"We knew that we'd want to speak at some point, and we figured there was no better place than with Dr. Phil," said Cindy Anthony, also in a statement. "We are hoping that by doing this interview, we will be able to help other people who may be experiencing struggles of their own. We certainly don't want anyone to experience what we have these last three years."
"We appreciate the way in which Dr. Phil has helped others, and we trust him enough to completely open our hearts in telling our story. He is a professional that understands the uniqueness of our family situation. There's no one better to do this interview than Dr. Phil. We knew he would ask the difficult questions, and we were right," continued George Anthony.
While the Anthonys sought no compensation for their interview, they asked that a donation be made to a charitable organization currently being formed to honor their granddaughter. "Caylee's Fund" will be a federally sanctioned 501 (c) (3) created to focus on promoting processes to educate the public about - and advocate for - grandparents' rights, as well as missing and abused children by maximizing the use of public interactivity to increase efficiency and knowledge.
After having gone missing for weeks, Caylee Anthony's remains were discovered in a plastic bag near the Anthonys' Florida home in December 2008. Her mother, Casey, was put on trial in May 2011, and that event received a huge amount of attention from the cable news networks all summer, until Casey, now in seclusion in an unknown location, was acquitted in July.
