For the past twenty-nine years Robin McGraw has dedicated her life to being the wife and mother God intended her to be.  Now, at fifty-two, Robin McGraw is embarking on a new chapter in her life. She is writing a book.

The world knows Robin McGraw as the wife of Dr. Phil. They find her in the front row of the studio audience every weekday, frequently offering her perspective on her experiences as a wife and mother or dealing with the issues that women face in the many phases of their lives. Robin has co-hosted many television events with Dr. Phil, including "Christmas in Washington," "Dr. Phil," "The JC Penney Jam," and “Boston Pops Firework Spectacular” and has been a featured guest on "Larry King Live," "The View," "CBS Early Morning Show," "Academy of Country Music Awards," and a number of primetime specials.  Robin has interviewed some of the most influential and recognizable people on the world stage, from President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush to the international superstar, Cher.   Robin is a much sought after public speaker and is also very involved as a board member and goodwill ambassador for The Dr. Phil Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization that is committed to helping disadvantaged children and families.

She grew up with three older sisters, a twin brother, and parents who loved them with all their hearts. But her father was an alcoholic and gambler and because of that she lived every day in uncertainty. Would he come home tonight? She knew he was a good and wonderful man and she loved him with all her heart. But she also knew he had an illness that deprived her sisters, brother and her of the father they yearned for, and that she would dedicate her life to undoing the legacy of doubt that accompanied his great love for them.

So when she grew up, Robin’s plan was to fall in love, marry, and start her own family. And she decided then and there that she would not bring that part of her father’s legacy into her adult life. She would never marry a man who drank or gambled. Her father had the ability to decide he was not going to let this disease control his life. And instead, he gave his addiction control and let it terrorize their lives. She remembers making a conscious choice and telling herself: I adore my father and I am going to bring every good part of his legacy into my life, and live it and embrace it in my husband and in my children. But she would not allow the negative part of his legacy into her adult life.

Robin also learned from her mother, who – to put it simply – lived for her children. She always put herself last: if there wasn’t quite enough food for dinner, she was the one who didn’t get a full plate. She was often up well past midnight, scrubbing down the bathroom floor, or ironing her father’s shirts, or sitting hunched over her ancient sewing machine, making Robin a skirt or blouse out of remnants she’d gotten on sale. And then there were the nights she’d drive around town with Robin or one of her siblings in the car, looking for Robin’s father, who hadn’t been home in a couple of days. They’d troll the streets slowly with the windows rolled down, peering down side streets to see if Robin’s father was lying unconscious in a deserted parking lot or dead in an alleyway. They went out on a number of those gloomy excursions but they never would find him, and Robin’s mother would drive home tired but grimly optimistic that he’d turn up alive and relatively well before too long.

Her mother died of a catastrophic heart attack while on the phone with Robin. She was fifty-eight – just six years older than Robin is now. Robin was married and the mother of a six-year-old son when she died, and Robin  decided that day that she would never allow herself to become so drained and depleted that she dies young and leaves her children to lead so much of their lives without her. Robin loved her mother and has carried her legacy of love and devotion into her relationship with her children. But she has also chosen to reject the legacy of self-neglect that caused her mother to be taken from her when Robin still needed her so much. She is committed to not losing herself in the midst of being so many different things to so many different people.

Writing a book is giving Robin the chance to talk about the choices she’s made, and tell other women about the galvanizing power of living a chosen life. As far back as Robin can remember, she has always been certain of who she is and why she was put on this earth. She has never thought of herself as a victim of circumstance; rather she examined the circumstance she was in, evaluated their usefulness in her life, and used them as a blueprint for how she would build the life God-created her to live.. She knew she was meant to be a wife and mother, and she made it happen. She knew she wanted a husband who didn’t drink or gamble, and she made it happen. She knew she wanted to take care of herself to remain vibrant and healthy for her family, and she decided to make it happen. And everything that has happened is the result of conscious choices that she made. Often women are more comfortable reacting to life than acting upon it, and Robin is here to tell them that you get what you ask for, and if you don’t ask, you’re going to end up settling for less than you want (and deserve).  

That’s why she’s writing a book: to tell everyone who reads it about the power of choosing her life rather than taking it as it comes along – not so readers can make the same choices Robin made, but so they can make the choices that are right for them. She wants women to get excited about whatever phase of life they’re in; about being a woman in this day and time, about being the woman that God created in you. She wants to show women that they can be a Christian woman and live life with passion and purpose.  Robin is not an expert, and it’s not her intention to give people advice on how to solve their problems (she leaves that to her husband). She’s had her share of struggles over the years, but she continues to live with her faith.  She knows a thing or two about what has worked for her in this life. She has acted on her circumstances rather than reacted to them. And in so doing Robin has chosen how to be a woman, how to be a wife, and how to be a mother in ways that are uniquely her own. Robin and Dr. Phil have an understanding: he makes the living and Robin makes the living worthwhile.   

Robin accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior as a young girl. She lives her life each and every day with a deep and abiding faith in God. The values and principles she learned growing up in a loving and Christian home in Duncan, Oklahoma created the foundation of how she lives her life today. She and her husband, Dr. Phil, made the commitment early on in their relationship to be God centered in their marriage and in their roles as parents. Prayer, worship and fellowship are important aspects of the McGraw’s lives.