Danny Masterson And Bijou Phillips’ World Blows Up: Inside Their Marital Highs, Lows, And Really Bad Year

Danny Masterson and Bijou Phillips are probably ready to say goodbye to 2017. The usually not-so-high profile Hollywood couple has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons this year.

Danny Masterson is best known for his starring roles on the TV comedies That ’70s Show and The Ranch. Danny met model and actress Bijou Phillips (Calvin Klein, Almost Famous) in 2004 when they were seated next to each other at a celebrity poker tournament in Las Vegas. Sparks flew, a long courtship ensued, and in 2011 the couple married at a castle in Tipperary, Ireland, in a nod to the groom’s heritage. Danny Masterson and Bijou Phillips now have a 3-year-old daughter, Fianna, a Valentine’s Day baby born in 2014.

The notoriously private couple succumbed to a rare profile for Papermag in 2009, the same year they worked together on the film The Bridge to Nowhere and the same year Bijou’s world was rocked by her half-sister Mackenzie’s public announcement that she had a 10-year sexual relationship with their father, John. The sisters stopped speaking after Mackenzie’s incestuous bombshell was announced to the world.

At the time, Bijou Phillips seemed focused on her relationship with Masterson. Bijou told the magazine she and Danny lived their lives like New Yorkers despite their West Coast address.

“We’re New Yorkers living in L.A.,” Bijou said. “I think New Yorkers do things a little bit better. I bet if you looked at New Yorkers in relationships as compared to people from L.A. in relationships, New Yorkers have more long-term relationships.”

But while most of their relationship has been under the radar, things blew up for the Mastersons in 2017—and not in a good way.

In the latest drama, Danny Masterson was fired from his Netflix series, The Ranch, amid multiple allegations of sexual assault against him. The four female accusers alleged that Masterson raped them in the early 2000s, according to the Huffington Post. Meanwhile, Scientology and the Aftermath star Leah Remini accused the Church of Scientology (Danny and Bijou are devout members) of covering for Masterson, who is one of the organization’s highest-profile celebrity devotees. After his Netflix firing was announced, Danny Masterson issued a statement declaring his innocence and questioning the usual “innocent until proven guilty” assumption that is not taking place in Hollywood right now.

While rape allegations and a firing are not a good precursor to the holidays, unfortunately for Danny and Bijou, the rest of 2017 hasn’t been much better. In April, Us Weekly revealed that Bijou, the daughter of Mamas & the Papas singer John Phillips and half-sister to celebrities Mackenzie and Chynna Phillips, underwent a kidney transplant two months after an emergency hospital visit. After Bijou’s surgery, Masterson posted a photo of his recuperating wife with a hopeful message. Danny revealed that “his lady” had been “slowing dying for the past 7 years of an incurable kidney disease” and that she had been undergoing weekly dialysis before a matching kidney donor was found.

With her medical problems as under control as possible, Bijou Phillips dealt with yet another hurdle this year when she was recently accused by Mean Girls actor Daniel Franzese of taunting his sexuality and body shaming him on the set of the 2001 drama Bully. Phillips issued a heartfelt apology on social media, but the damage was done as she received massive backlash for being an alleged veritable mean girl.

Bijou Phillips hasn’t responded to the rape claims against her husband Danny Masterson, but it’s clear this couple has been through plenty of up and downs throughout their relationship—especially this year. For Masterson and Phillips, 2018 can’t come soon enough.

You can see Danny Masterson and his wife Bijou Phillips in the trailer for their 2010 film, Wake, below.