I wouldn't be calling him a pervert, I'd be calling him my husband of 26 years!  And we dated for 5 years before we were married. (started dating when I was 15 and he was 27).  We raised 2 sons together and we loved each other very much!  He passed away a short timne ago and I miss him every single day!  Everybody is different.  What works for some does not work for others.  As far as the "law" goes, I know it's there to protect people, but not everyone needs protecting - especially not me!

My reply is not so much about this particular couple, but about age difference.  My husband and I were 12 years apart; We started going out when he was 27 and I was 15.  We dated for 5 yrs, lived together for 1 and then got married.  We raise two sons together, who are now 23 & 25. We also hid our relationship from our families at first unsure of how they would react.  Our families' knew each other, in fact, we were neighbours.  When we did tell them, they were supportive -what else could they have done anyways?  Some of you are probably saying, "charge him and have him thrown in jail!".  Well, my husband was NOT a pedofile!  He was a very loving husband for 26 years and the best father that there ever was!  For those of you who noticed I am writing in the past tense and figured that our relationship didn't work out and that we ended up divorced - Your wrong.  He died.  He battled many years with cancer and kidnew problems and I was there fighting with him every steip of the way.  I would give anything to have him here by my side right now.  Please don't judge relationships on age, and if it's "legal" or not.  LOVE IS LOVE!

Well, at 16 we are allowed to get behind the wheel of a 2 ton missle, while texting,  at 18 we are entitled to go to war and shoot and kill people get married and have children, and at 21 we can go get drunk but the brain isn't matured until age 25 ? Doesn't all of the latter need to be the next Dr. Phil show? I would say given the rules of all of the latter that a 16 year old boy deciding to have sex is a minor infraction.

Scott receives my "rah rah"! My wife and I were just discussing similar examples that tend to define "maturity" in todays psychological and legal systems. We considered the "Amish" sect, that marries young  and the Mormon sect that believe in polygamy. If you place a 35 year old ''trained from childhood polygamist' into our 'normal" society, they have no internal  idea that a relationship with two or more people is "morally" wrong, and their brain is fully developed.   The same with some Amish sects that marry at very young ages: a 14 year old is mature enough for them.  So this all gives us extreme evidence to strongly consider Scotts point of view. I have never agreed with the maturation of the brain at age 25. The brains physical size may be a factor but it's ability to perceive and develop logic at any given age has never been scientifically negated or established. 
     Considering the latter leads me to the polygraph test. Dr. Phil continues to use the polygraph as absolute evidence of truth when in fact it is as accurate as a coin toss. So the brain maturation and polygraph, with no substainable evidence of their accuracy, leads one to believe that Dr. Phil has fell pray to "sensationalism". What good is the show to  psychological advances if it becomes "Springertized" ?

WOW! I had to laugh when she said she wants to be a journalist, and he thinks he can be a model. As a former newspaper reporter, I'd like to clue her in----don't expect to be hired by any reputable news organization....we don't hire peope like you---we WRITE about them! As for TJ thinking he could become a model...well, let's just say they're BOTH living in a dream world!

Dr Phil, I wish you WOULD have revealed the other information about her. Some things I'd really would like to know are 1) what are/were the circumstances surrounding the two children she hasn't seen in a year and 2) who is the father of the three year-old who is also living with them in the motel room? Dr Phil I think you dropped the ball on these two questions, and had I been in your shoes, I would have stressed to TJ (who states she is a "good mother") that good mothers don't abandon their kids for a year, and I would also have asked him about the other child: does she KNOW who the father is, and was THAT father also under age when she had the child? Could be some kind of sick pattern here.

Also, I had to chuckle when TJ said he'd "like to wait for her" but after a few years would prbably move on....sounds like a really committed relationship! Personally, I think both of them should be committed---for some major psychiatric evaluation!!!

Either Clive is also a Pedophile or, which is more likely, this is Melissa tyring to manipulate people...AGAIN. Always.  Dr. Phil did an Excellent job on this show.  I loved how he brought out that they tried to lie to TJ's dad about her age.  Noting they picked the age of 23!  That just happens to be the break off age legally.  I wondered why 23?  But that's why.  That solidifys  premeditation on Melissa's part.  It proves she knew exactly what she was doing.   Melissa makes Lindsay Lohan look good!!!!!

First of all, Dr Phil is wrong regarding his philosophy on how 'children' remain retarded logically until twenty-five years old due to developmental issues. Logic is innate and is usually undone by social conditioning from childhood on. (Imposing religious ideology on children is just such an example of purposeful retarding of one's logic during critical developmental years.) The reality is that emotional control and lack of specific social experiences is the disabler during young adult maturity. And what's more, the age of one's legal position does NOT assure one's maturity in any specific area of social conduct.

It's bothersome for me to watch how this lady (Melissa) was humiliated by popular prejudices based on arbitrary human moral qualifications. Just because her act was officially illegal doesn't make her act universally immoral!! You, Dr. Phil, weren't interested in hearing her moral opinions or justifications based on her internal opinions and her maturity. You assumed that since one is merely over the legal age, that somehow she magically becomes internally guilty of anything she does that goes against the contemporary laws of this day. That is why you kept insisting that she accept guilt and own up to being a pediphile!! You ignore the fact that should she publically admit to such a crime that she is confessing internal guilt when that is not her case. For example, if we were living in Hitler's Germany during his day, the way you proceeded would be the same as pressuring a Jew to confess to his or her crime of being Jew as if he/she is just faking that they don't realize their own inferiority to the crowd who obviously know better!

Also, if it were true that you do believe that people don't mature logically until their brain develops better, who's to say that Melissa's brain hasn't developed sufficiently? You say that this magical age is 25. But I'm sure you know that even if this was a statistical measure, it is only a law of averages. Also, wouldn't you have to agree that they should at least raise the maturity age to 25 as a legal qualification to demarcate one as a child/adult?

Maturity is different for everyone due to the kind of experiences they have. While perhaps the majority of people may experience lots of relationship experiences starting from high school which enables them to learn the mistakes and how to deal with socially acceptable norms, many more people won't even have their first sexual encounter until long after they are officially adults. Making people accountable to being mature by a legal standard such as age is only an expedient of practice. We are still animals underneath our pretence of superior knowledge of some absolute morality that is supposed to exist in us. And obviously, you haven't quite matured logically enough even at your age if you don't get this.

You should avoid issues regarding subjects on sex or children because on these issues, you deviate from logic and reason and trade it for pure irrational emotion. When you push concepts like "False Positives" ...guilty until proven innocent in the case of an interpretation of a child's supposed claim of abuse, you take society back to the witch trials of our abusive past. And now you have become an abuser!! I think you need to get some help about your childhood issues since it seems clear that this is the area that most affects your judgement.

Scott M.

It is pointless getting around to her. He will not be the one going to jail. It's Melissa because she's dating a minor that's a thirteen year age difference!  Hello she is too stubborn to realize that she will face fifteen years  in jail!

The Frontal cortex of the brain is still developing up until 25 years of age.  One uses the frontal cortex for decision making.  I think the young man has a few more years before he is capable of making adult decisions.   I think she chose him because she could have complete control and could dominate the situation.  The fights occur when she realizes that she is losing control.  Listening to his speech patterns I am wondering if there isn't something else going on here?  Both parties may be suffering from low self-esteem from early childhood hurts.  I think it would be in her best interest if she went in to a sex and love addiction rehab.  They have rehabs that you can go into with your children.  I think that that would help her and would help her in her defense.  I think Dr. Phil tried to put this to her but I think that she is so into the denial and/or this is what she THINKS is love or all that she knows or can guess of what love is.  I just feel so bad for the kids

What an absolute disaster, This 30 year old "woman" is a predator and a liar. She's incredibly immature and selfish.She wants to play the victim but she is most assuredly NOT the victim.  She is certainly NOT a good mother. She hasn't seen two of her children in a year. TJ is the victim. He is a young boy who is deperately looking for a mommy. Instead, he found a predator who is using him for her own selfish purposes. He is in no place to be making the decisions that he is making for himself and his children. The really, really sad thing is that the children will really suffer.

This relationship will NOT last. TJ will always bear the scars. And, the children will suffer from a lack of stable parents. I hope that the court system throws the predator in jail for a long time.