Estranged wife of That '70s Show star Danny Masterson claims she may die 'in a few days' following health diagnosis
Alice Wade
Featured Image Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for FIREAID
The estranged wife of disgraced actor Danny Masterton, Bijou Phillips, has revealed she may have just days to live.
The model, 45, was once the wife of That '70s Show actor Danny Masterson, but filed for divorce after he was found guilty of rape and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.
Now, in her first interview in a decade, Phillips has opened up about her health struggles and revealed she could be 'gone in a few days' after spending a year on the waiting list for a kidney transplant.
"I’m sort of hanging on by a thread," she told Us Weekly.
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Born with underdeveloped kidneys, the model has battled countless health scares. She spent her first three months on dialysis and was left with limited kidney function afterwards.
At the age of 36, she was left needing a transplant; her friend, Chris Wadhams, an actor and editor, donated one of his kidneys to her.
However, following the transplant in 2017, Phillips announced on social media on February 11 that she had been hospitalized and was back on dialysis. She told followers that ‘time is of the essence' after the kidney was rejected.
Reiterating how delicate the situation was, she said she might be 'gone in a few days' if she got an infection.
"I’ve been immunosuppressed for so long… I could make it on dialysis for a couple of years, or I could get an infection in my line tomorrow and be gone in a few days," she said. "I’m really hopeful, [but] it’s an extremely urgent situation."
Reflecting on the social media post, she said: "To put my health out there publicly was terrifying, but my friends and family got fed up with me. They took control and were like, ‘We’re doing this."
She said she had needed a transplant for a year and was ‘hanging on by a thread’.
“The medication you take when you’re transplanted is very toxic to kidneys. So when you get a transplant — heart or liver or kidney — within a decade, you’re probably going to need a kidney transplant. My dad needed to get on dialysis after his liver transplant, [and] he got an infection in his line and was dead within three days because his immune system was so weak. So for me, getting on dialysis at UCLA was terrifying.”
Being on dialysis is no small feat, as Phillips explained. The treatment works to filter waste, toxins, and excess fluid from the blood when someone's kidneys have stopped working.
It can make her heart rate skyrocket to as high as 190, and a catheter in her chest makes showering impossible.
Despite her situation, Phillips told the outlet that she was 'feeling pretty good' after recently learning that her brother, Aron Wilson, a potential donor, was not a match and could not donate.
"He’s maybe going to be able to get into the kidney exchange, but they’re not sure. They’ve already denied him once, so he’s gonna try again," she said.
An exchange would require Wilson to donate one of his own kidneys to another potential match and therefore bump Phillips up the list, making her more likely to receive a transplant of her own.
"I have antibodies [that make kidney rejection more likely], so it makes it complicated," she explained.
Despite her predicament, Phillips insisted she would keep fighting for her daughter's sake.
"I want to be here for her, and I have to be here for her. The fight is back. That had been gone for a long time. I’m it. I’m all she’s got," she said.
Phillips, who shares Fianna with her ex-husband, described her daughter as 'the strongest little human'.
"She’s really wise, and I’m just so proud to be her mother. She takes things that are really hard in life and handles them in this really classy way. I don’t deserve such an amazing human in my life. It’s magical."
She has also found solace in religion, telling the publication that she has turned to praying to help her through tough times.