Dr. Phil: Petraeus scandal ‘didn’t shock me’

>>> back now at 8:12 with more on the scandal that took down cia director david petraeus . he resigned when it was revealed he had an affair with his biographer paula broadwell. and news makers behaving badly provides dr. phil with stuff to talk about. he says if you're not on the lookout, be prepared to be taken advantage of them. dr. phil , good morning. you're just the guy we need for this story.

>> thanks.

>> we need a shrink. let's talk about petraeus before we get into the book. when you heard about this, i assume it didn't shock you. maybe about that it was general petraeus , but not the situation.

>> it didn't shock me. and, frankly, i'm not sure that it's as much our business as we make it. somehow or another today, there just aren't any boundaries, and people talk about it being national security . i mean, is it really? or do we just have this insatiable interest for what's going on in people's lives? i don't know where those boundaries should be and where they're not. i'm certainly -- i'm definitely certain that mrs. petraeus has an interest in it, but i'm not sure that we should have as much interest in it as we do.

>> what do you make of the players in this case? you have general petraeus who is very well-regarded, certainly, in his work and considered such a straight arrow, then you have the two ladies, jill kelley and paula broadwell. what's your take?

>> well, that's what i talk about in "life code." i wrote this book because i think we live in a different world than our mamas told us about. and i wrote this book because i want to tell people how the world really works, not how it should work. but how it really works, people have currency. and they look for the things that really light them up. obviously for these women, they didn't choose these guys because they look like james bond . they didn't choose these guys because they look like leo dicaprio , right? because they're powerful, because they represent something, and that's currency to them. they're connected to that. i think that's what motivates them. you have to see what their currency is.

>> let's talk about the book, they did talk about the real world . you call them baiters.

>> it's an acronyacronym. they're back stabbers, abusers, imposters, takers, exploiters and reckless people. and they're in all of our lives. going to be sitting next to one at home, co-workers, people you deal with in your life that are willing to step up and take what's yours if you don't recognize who they are. and i put in this book a secret playbook of how these people do what they do. then i talked about what you need to do. you need a secret playbook, as well.

>> you write in the book about a time you think you were kind of to use a phrase screwed over by an associate.

>> i didn't think i was. i got embezzled by someone who came to me knowing my currency because they groom you like a pedophile grooms a child. they came and said -- talked about family values and church and god and all that kind of stuff and got next to me and got next to my money and pretty soon they were out the door with hundreds of thousands of dollars and left my family absolutely in ruins financially.

>> but you don't think these people are everywhere? or do you? that's a cynical look of the world.

>> they're not everywhere, but they're out there and they're not coming into your life, they're already there. you just need to be able to spot them. and that's why i wrote this book. and i want -- this was a book of passion for me. and i want people to read it. and, by the way, this book doesn't come out in broad distribution until after the first of the year. right now you can buy it at the booknook.com because i've got it in a special pre-release. it's been out this week and it is moving faster than any book i've ever done, which is exciting for me. it tells me people want to know what's really going on in their life. that's exciting to me.

>> and your son is the publisher, right?

>> he is.

>> well, they may recognize some of the people you describe in the book.

>> i hope not.

>> all right. once again, dr. phil , thank you, and the book is called "life code."