That 70s Show star Danny Masterson, freshly found guilty of raping two women more than two decades ago, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. Throughout the initially delayed trial, the actor’s wife, Bijou Phillips, stood by his side, and reportedly broke down when the final verdict was announced during Sept. 7’s hearing in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
As reported by Daily Mail before the trial, Bijou has been “a shell of who she used to be” since the allegations against Masterson were made. “She’s really trying to be strong for her daughter as she tries to figure out what life will be like for her” in case Masterson got sentenced — a possibility that just became a reality. Social media is currently ablaze with the news of Masterson’s prison sentence, but many are also wondering why his wife continues to support him. But despite the speculation, the rather solid evidence against her husband, and the jury’s decision, Bijou has stood by him through thick and thin.
Who is Bijou Phillips?
Daughter of musician John Phillips, and actress Geneviève Waïte, Bijou is an actress who began her career first as a model as a young teenager and then made her singing debut in I’d Rather Eat Glass in 1999 before switching to film and TV appearances in 1999. Throughout her career, Bijou has acted in many films and one show — Wake, It’s Alive, Raising Hope, etc., — with Masterson, whom she first met back in 2004 during a poker tournament.
After six years of dating and speaking highly of each other during it, the duo — who are both Scientologists — finally tied the knot in 2011. The couple soon welcomed their daughter, Fionna, born in 2014. But their marital bliss didn’t stick around long as in 2017, Masterson was accused of sexual misconduct for the very first time and was subsequently fired from the Netflix series The Ranch after starring in it alongside his That 70’s show co-star, Ashton Kutcher.
Post-2014 — after playing the recurring role of Lucy Carlyle in Fox’s Raising Hope — Bijou has also not joined any cinematic or TV project in hopes of focusing on her health as well as her family, though in the last six years, the latter has clearly taken precedence over anything else.
Born in 1980, Bijou grew up in the foster care system as John Phillips and his wife Waite were both deemed incapable of looking after her. But as shared by her in a post back in 2018, she calls herself “so lucky I had such loving and safe foster parents and such a wonderful place and house to live. A big reason why I know how to mother and parent is because of them…”
But her troubles with her family didn’t end there. In 2009, her half-sister, Mackenzie Phillips, accused their father of sexually abusing her in her memoir High on Arrival nine years after his death. In response to the revelation, Bijou took her late father’s side, defended him against the allegation, and established that she did not believe her sister.
“Our father is many things, This is not one of them.”
During Thursday’s hearing, Bijou was seen crying after Masterson’s request for a retrial was denied by the judge. Given her distraught state, it will be quite some time before she issues her statement on the verdict and whether she and her husband are planning to appeal the decision.
Published: Sep 7, 2023 05:31 pm