Dr. Phil’s Sister-in-Law Dies 17 Years After Acid Attack

Dr. Phil’s sister-in-law, who survived a random acid attack 17 years ago, has died. She was 68.

Cindi Broaddus, the sister of Dr. Phil‘s wife, Robin McGraw, died on Feb. 19, according to an obituary on The Duncan Banner. Her funeral took place on her birthday, Feb. 23.

McGraw shared a heartfelt post on Instagram honoring her sister’s life.

“We are all heartbroken and will miss her everyday. She was our hero,” McGraw wrote, adding that her three daughters, Angela, Shelli and Brandi, “made her life a dream.”

“She lived everyday for her daughters and you always made her the happiest woman ever! I will celebrate her and her strength and her unwavering support for me the rest of my life. I miss her dearly,” McGraw wrote.

Broaddus was surrounded by her three daughters during her final days, according to her obituary. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Kennedy, Carson, Austin, Emma and Jameson, who were her “true pride and joy.”

In 2001, Broaddus survived a random act of violence when someone threw a jar of sulfuric acid off an overpass.

Broaddus — who worked as a “Cable One employee for 27 years,” according to the obituary — was sleeping in the passenger seat of a car while being driven when the acid was dropped through the windshield and she was awakened from the pain.

“I remember being really calm and talking to Jim and telling him to pull the car over and stuff,” Broaddus told Duncan Regional Hospital employees in 2017, according to KSWO. “He, on the other hand, said I was screaming bloody murder and I was yelling and that I was dying and I did think I wasn’t going to live very long. I thought I was dying.”

The Daily Mail reports that doctors gave her only a 30% chance of survival, but her fight started a years-long journey of inspiration for her book, “A Random Act: An Inspiring True Story of Fighting to Survive and Choosing to Forgive.”

The acid reportedly burned her face, chest and arms. She also inhaled some of the acid, which burned the inside of her throat.

Three years after the incident, Broaddus appeared on Dr. Phil’s show, where she talked about how the acid had burned 70% of her body.

“My family knows first hand the courage it takes to survive a moment of crisis,” Dr. Phil said when Broaddus appeared on his show. “My first guest, Cindi, is my wife’s sister. For Cindi, the horrible moment came when a maniac did the unthinkable.”

Broaddus, who underwent more than 12 surgeries, told the audience that she “decided not to wake up every day bitter and angry.”

Reflecting on the horrific moment, Broaddus told Dr. Phil on the program: “I knew I was dying, and I had a very calm peace about me because I had a message that came to me that I had to get through. … ‘You have got to tell my children how much I love them and that I’m not ready to leave them.’”

She later detailed in her book the positive changes the incident brought not only to her life, but to others’ as well.

“Spreading her message of courage, she inspired a multitude of people. She was brave until the very end,” according to her obituary.

“I wished it hadn’t happened but it’s given me the opportunity to do good,” she said in 2017, according to KSWO, which reported that the perpetrator still had not been caught as of last year.

“I’ve had countless people tell me that if they hadn’t heard me speak they wouldn’t have never done this or done that,” she shared. “It’s just, I just love it. I love telling the story and just seeing if I can help one person.”