Bijou Phillips was seen in public for the first time on Sunday since undergoing a life-saving kidney transplant earlier this month. The 46-year-old actress was photographed with her boyfriend, Jamie Mazur, in Malibu, California, appearing to be in recovery.
Phillips announced the successful transplant on Tuesday, July 8, sharing her gratitude on social media. "I am beyond beyond grateful to everyone who rushed into help me, get checked to donate, you are all heroes!" she wrote. She had previously sought public assistance for a living kidney donor after a transplant in 2017 was rejected. In February, Phillips stated that "time is of the essence" as she was on dialysis.
According to Phillips, her brother's participation in a kidney exchange program was instrumental in her finding a suitable donor. "My wonderful brother donated in the kidney exchange! He saved a life, and the life he saved had a special person donate for them, and then a few weeks later! The voucher program found me a perfect match!" she explained. She described the process as feeling as close as receiving a kidney from a parent.
Phillips also praised her surgeon, Dr. Veale, for a less invasive surgical technique that minimized pain and recovery time. "He only cut the fascia! He didn’t cut the muscles so I didn’t even really need much pain medication at all, just Tylenol!" she stated, noting she felt significantly better five days after this surgery compared to her recovery in 2017.
The actress had previously expressed the critical nature of her health, telling Us Weekly in February that she could be "gone in a few days" if she contracted a kidney infection. Her father, John Phillips, a member of The Mamas & the Papas, had also undergone a liver transplant and later required dialysis, dying from an infection at age 65. This history made Phillips's return to dialysis at UCLA particularly terrifying.
Phillips's first kidney transplant occurred in 2017, a detail shared by her then-husband, Danny Masterson, who was sentenced in 2023 for rape. Phillips filed for divorce from Masterson in September 2023. She was born with underdeveloped kidneys and was on dialysis for the first three months of her life. The 2017 transplant allowed her five years before complications arose, including the BK virus, which led to transplant rejection.