Even earlier Bijou Phillips revealed that she needed a second kidney transplant, the actress had been open about her health struggles over the years.
Phillips, who is the daughter of musicians John Phillips i Geneviève Waitewas born with underdeveloped kidneys. He required his first transplant in 2017.
“I’m asking as a friend, sister, aunt, and most importantly, single mom to an amazing, brave daughter. I need a kidney,” Phillips wrote on Instagram nearly a decade later. “In 2017, I received the incredible gift of a kidney from a dear friend.”
Phillips he remembered suffering “Many complications,” she added, “Including the BK virus which led to both cellular and antibody rejection. I am currently under the care of Dr. Anjay Rastogi at UCLA and back on dialysis. Please help me find a living donor so I can spend more time with my daughter, family and friends.”
Keep scrolling for a breakdown of Phillips’ health issues over the years:
1980
While asking for help find a donor for a second kidney Transplant, Phillips revealed that he “was born with underdeveloped kidneys and spent the first three months of his life in the NICU on dialysis.”
2017
Phillips was hospitalized in 2017 after a blood infection. Her husband at the time, Danny Mastersonopened up about her health issues, telling Entertainment Tonight, “Bijou was born with small kidneys and has been quietly dealing with kidney disease for the past five years, including being on the transplant list.”
He continued: “In an effort to heal his body, he has led a stress-free life on a vegan diet that ultimately wasn’t enough, and has been privately undergoing weekly dialysis.”
2017
Phillips it went through her first transplant when a friend donated his kidney.
Danny Masterson and Bijou Phillips married in 2011 after meeting at a celebrity poker tournament two years earlier. In March 2017, Masterson, who welcomed daughter Fianna with Phillips in 2014, was accused of sexual assault in the early 2000s by several women. As a result, he was removed from Netflix’s The Ranch. (…)
2023
After Masterson was sentenced to 30 years in prison on sexual assault charges, Phillips was one of several character witnesses who wrote a letter to the judge in hopes of reducing his prison time.
“I can say that Danny has literally been a lifesaver,” she wrote in the message obtained by The Underground Bunker. “I was depending on Danny to take care of me and our daughter. I always felt it would be okay because Danny is an amazing father.”
Phillips praised Masterson, with whom he shares daughter Fiannato “find other ways to make a living” after being accused of sexual abuse in 2017.
“He was devoted to our daughter, reading her books, taking her for walks and ballet lessons. I never heard him complain. The two were inseparable,” she continued, noting that Masterson was always “against drugs” and helped “so many friends and colleagues get sober.”
Phillips filed for divorce from Masterson in September 2023. After their divorce was finalized, Phillips was awarded full custody in October 2023. At the time, a source told Us Weekly that Phillips was focused on her future, sharing, “Bijou is trying to put the whole sordid mess behind her and focus on building a new chapter.”
2026
Phillips confirmed in February 2026 that he was looking for a living donor as he battled health complications from his first transplant. Phillips went back to dialysis after his kidney failed.
An insider told us that while Phillips is “awake” and “aware of what’s going on,” his condition remains “black.” The source noted that there is “natural wear and tear on the other kidney” and that he “has had problems for years.”