Recently discovered your teen is pregnant? Have a physical illness and don’t feel pretty? Early menopause? Teen mums: at war with baby’s father? Weigh more than 900lb? All this and much more was on the moving banner on Dr Phil’s website yesterday. The capacity of this US TV psychologist to offer advice to the miserable masses knows no bounds, it seems. The only calamity that seemed to be missing was the one Britney Spears’s mum might have written. That would have read: Betrayed by a friend?

What happened is that Britney’s family asked Dr Phil to visit her in hospital. Dr Phil duly obliged and gave the media chapter and verse on the sad singer. The family, who had envisaged something more private (at this point we must forget that Britney was happy to be photographed for this week’s OK! cover story) are outraged at what they call exploitation, and he has now cancelled a planned show about Britney. Her situation, he concedes, is “too intense”.

That’s a subtle statement for Dr Phil, who is nothing if not loud and entirely colourful. The second most popular talk-show host in the US, ranking just below his mentor Oprah Winfrey, he tells it like it is, in his strong southern drawl. That’s why America likes him. Stop whingeing and take responsibility for yourself, he tells the sobbing couples who queue for his advice, and if his tough love philosophy humiliates them along the way, well, voyeurism is good for the ratings.

Phillip McGraw was born dirt-poor in Vinita, Oklahoma, in 1950. He won a football scholarship to university, got his doctorate in clinical psychology in 1979 and went into practice. After developing a treatment programme (and having been reprimanded for having an inappropriate relationship with a young female client), he switched his professional attention to preparing people for trial. One client he impressed was Oprah, who was being sued by cattle farmers after announcing that BSE had put her off beef. She invited him on her show as Dr Tell-It-Like-It-Is Phil. He moved effortlessly into showbusiness and became a fixture, getting his own syndicated daytime show in October 2002.

He now describes himself as a life strategist, but he is more like a brand. His six books have been bestsellers. Robin, his second wife (of 31 years) is always a presence at his shows, and has herself been published: Inside My Heart: choosing to live with passion and purpose. But perhaps because the egotistical Dr Phil is long past the point where he can afford a silver Ferrari, and because his advice is often so brief, so uncompromising – and so obvious – detractors like to point out that he has never come out on the wrong end of a deal. He’s a bully, critics say. But while he may be an overbearing man who loves the limelight, that’s what his female viewers like. He makes quick decisions, he’s in control – and there’s a market for that.

Editor's choice

• U2 at Nou Camp Stadium, Barcelona
• The 50 Best Movie Villains
• The 15 golden rules of theatre etiquette