Tragic Details About Bijou Phillips
The following article mentions sexual assault, drug addiction, and incest.
Bijou Phillips is known to many as the wife of Danny Masterson, the "That '70s Show" star who was convicted of rape in 2023. But Bijou has her own complex life story, complete with troubled parents, a wild party girl phase, and a pretty steady career as an actor, model, and singer.
Bijou, the younger half-sister of "One Day at a Time" star Mackenzie Phillips and Chynna Phillips of Wilson Phillips, had a difficult childhood and was often left to her own devices. Luckily, she was able to deal with the severe substance issues that plagued her parents, and managed to make a name for herself in the indie film scene.
In recent years, Bijou, who is now a mom to daughter Fianna Francis, has kept a low profile and stood by her husband's side through his trial. With Masterson having been given the maximum sentence for the crimes he committed, Bijou is now facing yet another challenging chapter in a life that has been filled with one obstacle after another. Read on to find out more tragic details about Bijou Phillips.
She was placed in foster care at age 3
Bijou Phillips was born in 1980 to The Mamas & The Papas musician John Phillips and his third wife, actor and model Geneviève Waïte. John and Waïte were both addicted to cocaine and heroin, and when Bijou was 3 years old, they were deemed unfit parents. She was placed in foster care and remained with a foster family for about five years. Then, she moved back in with her father.
The experience clearly took a toll on Bijou Phillips, and she spoke about it in a lengthy Instagram post in 2018. "When I was a kid separated from my parents, I remember my mother coming and wanting to take me and just wanting to go with her so much and screaming and crying," she wrote. Although Bijou described the feeling of being away from her parents as "pain that never goes away," she also gave credit to her foster family for taking such good care of her. "I'm so lucky I had such loving and safe foster parents and such a wonderful place and house to live," she wrote. "A big reason why I know how to mother and parent is because of them."
Bijou Phillips was on her own when she was 14
While Bijou Phillips found a safe haven with her foster family as a young child, and was reunited with her family of origin while in elementary school, the actor found herself completely on her own when she was just 14. But this time it was on her terms. Phillips legally emancipated herself from her parents, dropped out of school, and moved into her own apartment in New York City. She found work as a model for big names such as Calvin Klein, but her youth and her newfound freedom resulted in trouble for Phillips.
"If you were 14 years old and able to live on your own in an apartment in New York City, and you got invited to all these clubs, and you got a bank account and you had a car service you could call so that you could go wherever you wanted... what would happen?" Phillips said in an interview with The Guardian. What happened to Phillips was that she gained a reputation for being a party girl, and rumors of her antics spread far and wide. She was known for getting up on bars, flashing strangers, being too playful with knives, and, as she confirmed on "The Howard Stern Show," she even once cut off the tip of a guy's finger with a cigar cutter on a whim. Partying in the city with no adult supervision sounds like a teenager's dream, but at some point the party was bound to end.
Losing a friend was a wakeup call for her
Bijou Phillips' affinity for the New York nightlife scene led to her drinking and using drugs like ecstasy, heroin, and cocaine. And she had plenty of friends who shared her wild child lifestyle, including her pal Davide Sorrenti. Davide was a fixture on the party scene and the son of fashion photographer Francesca Sorrenti. He died from a heroin overdose when he was just 20 years old.
According to The Guardian, Davide Sorrenti's death hit Phillips hard, which led to her stint in rehab. Ironically, it was Phillips' father, a longtime drug user himself, who encouraged her to sober up. By 21, the actor and model had put her party days behind her. "Most people my age are out doing the things I was doing at 14," she told The Guardian in 2002. "I'm happy that I got all that out of the way, out of my system, when I was a kid." Looking back at her turbulent teen years, Phillips told Reuters in 2007 that she sees no point in regretting that time. "It is what it is," she said. The actor also acknowledged that even though she'd moved past her party era, reworking her reputation wasn't so simple. "When you want to grow up and do some real work the things you did ... that gave you a bad girl image ... do play a part in the long run and in the end it is hard to shake that," she said.
John Phillips' passing was hard for Bijou
Mere weeks before her 21st birthday, Bijou Phillips' father, John Phillips died. The musician died of heart failure at the age of 65 after many years of health problems and substance abuse. Despite her tumultuous upbringing, Bijou had a lot of love for her father and was lost without him when he died. When asked by The Guardian how her father's death had changed her, Bijou replied, "My life sucks since he went away. I can't talk about it."
Bijou said the anger she'd felt toward her father when she was young had a lot to do with the influence of her older half-sisters, actor Mackenzie Phillips and musician Chynna Phillips. "They were so pissed off at him, and I thought: 'Well, I'll be pissed off, too.' If my big sisters are telling me that my dad's an a**hole, then OK, he's an a**hole,'" she told The Guardian.
But after his passing, Bijou came to appreciate her father for the times he was truly there for her. "My dad was a great dad ... He had his own problems. He took custody of me, he took me to school every single day, made me breakfast, picked me up, made me dinner," she shared with The Guardian.
Bijou Phillips' half-sister made a disturbing confession about their dad
Bijou Phillips grieved her father's death in 2001, but it would be several years later that disturbing allegations about him were made public. In 2009, Bijou's half-sister, actor Mackenzie Phillips, revealed that she'd had a long term sexual relationship with their father, John Phillips. Mackenzie wrote in her memoir "High on Arrival" that the relationship was consensual, but that it began with an assault. The actor alleged that the night before her wedding, when she was 19 years old, her father had sex with her. "I had tons of pills, and Dad had tons of everything too. Eventually I passed out on Dad's bed ... I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father," she wrote.
Bijou Phillips released a statement to "The Oprah Winfrey Show" saying that Mackenzie had told her about the relationship when she was 13. She said, in part, "I didn't know what to believe and it didn't help that shortly thereafter, Mackenzie told me it didn't happen." Mackenzie's allegations shined a spotlight on the Phillips family, something Bijou seemed to resent, as evidenced by the rest of her statement. "I understand Mackenzie's need to come clean with a history she feels will help others, but it's devastating to have the world watch as we try and mend broken fences, especially when the man in question isn't here to defend himself," she said.
Two former co-stars accused her of mean girl behavior
Though she's had a successful career as an actor, Bijou Phillips doesn't have the best reputation behind the scenes. She has been accused of bullying and assault by two former co-stars, Daniel Franzese and Heather Matarazzo.
Franzese, known for his work in the hit comedy "Mean Girls," starred with Phillips in 2001's "Bully." He alleged in a lengthy post on Facebook that she harassed him for the entirety of the shoot, mocking him for his sexuality, and making fun of his weight. "I was scared and closeted and feared for my job. It started with a lot of eye rolling whenever we spoke but escalated ... As we were shooting, she kept loudly saying 'Are you gay?!' and laughing while the producers and photographer did nothing to stop her." Phillips apologized publicly, telling TMZ, "I am so mortified by this behavior. I am not and never have been homophobic. I have nothing but love for the LGBTQ community and Daniel." Franzese accepted her apology via Twitter.
Heather Matarazzo alleged she was harassed by Phillips on the set of "Hostel: Part II." "She had thrown me up against a wall and put her hands around my neck ... and choked me for a good 15, 20 seconds," Matarazzo revealed on her podcast, "Shut Up and Listen," in 2017. Matarazzo, who was sober while filming, also alleged that Phillips threatened, "I'm going to make sure that you relapse on this film." It is unclear whether Phillips ever addressed the allegations.
Her grisly Hostel: Part II scenes disturbed her
Fans of Bijou Phillips' acting career know that she has appeared in her fair share of controversial films. In 2001's "Tart," her character is brutally murdered; in Larry Clark's film "Bully," Phillips' character is raped. While the actor told Reuters in 2007 that she wished she was offered lighter fare from time to time, she seemed able to handle the intensity of the material.
It was when she was filming scenes for the horror flick "Hostel: Part II" that Phillips was genuinely afraid and disturbed by the content. "[I]t was three weeks of like torture stuff ... And the kind of internal thoughts you have while you're going through something like that can sometimes be surprising ... during the whole torture stuff I just wanted my mom," Phillips shared with Female.
And the fear she felt sometimes followed her home and kept her up at night. "I'd spent a long day shooting and you'll almost fall asleep and you'll picture yourself back there and relive some of that torture stuff and you jump out of bed really quickly and that freaks you out," the actor revealed.
Bijou Phillips underwent a kidney transplant for a rare disorder
In February 2017, Bijou Phillips revealed she had been diagnosed with a kidney disorder and was in need of a transplant. "Bijou was born with small kidneys and has been quietly dealing with kidney disease for the last five years, including being on the transplant list," the actor's rep shared with People at the time.
A few months later, Phillips underwent a successful kidney transplant. Ahead of her surgery, the actor shared a post on Instagram expressing her excitement and praising her donor. "Dialysis has been a blessing, and also extremely hard, I got an infection and am on my second catheter. This is major surgery, FSGS is scary, but I'm soooo intensely Grateful for my husband, my daughter, our Family!" she wrote in the since-deleted post, as reported by the Daily Mail.
After the transplant, Danny Masterson shared a pic of Phillips and her unnamed donor holding hands in side by side hospital beds. "My lady has been slowing dying for the past 7 years of an incurable kidney disease. She was given the gift of an encore by a tall angel. Our daughter will have a mother," he captioned the Instagram post. The couple's daughter, Fianna Francis, was 3 years old at the time.
The loss of her mother hit her hard
Although Bijou Phillips had a chaotic childhood and a complicated relationship with her parents when she was young, she eventually became quite close with her mother, Geneviève Waïte. Waïte was a South African model and actor, best known for starring in the 1968 film "Joanna," posing for Vogue, and collaborating with then-husband John Phillips on the 1974 album "Romance Is on the Rise." In addition to Bijou, Waïte and John also shared a son named Tamerlane Phillips.
When Waïte died in 2019 at the age of 71, Bijou was deeply affected by the loss. "She was a light, a fairy, and a gift of a creature ... Her mind was poetry and wit, her sense of humor was quick and dry. She was like a child in a way, who was too smart for her own good," Bijou wrote in a statement shared with People. Although Bijou's parents divorced in 1985, she made mention of them reuniting in the afterlife. "It's nice thinking she is with our Dad, dancing around heaven," the actor stated.
Her husband was convicted of raping two women
In May 2023, Bijou Phillips' husband, Danny Masterson of "That '70s Show" fame, was found guilty of two counts of rape. The charges stemmed from accusations made by several women who said that Masterson drugged and assaulted them in his home between 2001 and 2003. Phillips and Masterson, as well as his accusers, were all members of the Church of Scientology at the time, a fact that played a big part in the court case. As noted by the AP, his victims argued that Masterson's high position in the church helped him avoid accountability for his actions.
Phillips, who married Masterson in 2011, was reportedly so overwhelmed by the conviction that she could not keep it together in the courtroom. "She wasn't prepared for the verdict," a source told People. "She never expected him to be found guilty. She couldn't believe that he was taken into custody right away and remanded." According to People, Phillips began loudly weeping when the verdict was read. The judge then told her she would have to leave the courtroom if she did not stop crying.
Bijou Phillips was a 'shell' of herself after the sentencing
Ahead of Danny Masterson's sentencing, a source told People that Bijou Phillips was "terrified." In a letter to the judge, she asked for leniency. As reported by the Daily Mail, she wrote, "We need him more than you can imagine. I know he has been convicted of serious crimes. But the man I married has only been an extraordinary husband to me and a devoted father to our daughter."
However, on September 7, 2023, her fears were realized, and Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison, the maximum sentence for his crimes. According to ET, Phillips stayed "stoic" through the sentencing. A source told the Daily Mail that the outcome left Phillips "a shell of her former self," and another claimed to People that she planned to seek an appeal.
On September 19, 2023, TMZ reported that Phillips filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences." Her attorney told the outlet, "Ms. Phillips has decided to file for divorce from her husband during this unfortunate time. Her priority remains with her daughter."
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