Bijou Phillips Ditches Wedding Ring After Split From Danny Masterson
Bijou Phillips is taking the next step in her split from estranged husband Danny Masterson.
Phillips, 43, was spotted without her wedding ring while out and about in Los Angeles on Thursday, September 21. The actress, who donned a blue shirt, dark jeans and loafers for the day out, seemed to be in good spirits as she ran errands around the city.
The decision to ditch her wedding band comes just a few days after Phillips filed for divorce from Masterson, 47, on Monday, September 18. According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly, Phillips cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the split and is requesting full legal and physical custody of the pair’s 9-year-old daughter, Fianna, with visitation rights for Masterson.
Phillips also requested to “terminate the court’s ability to grant support” to the actor and is seeking for their assets to be divided up by the court as separate property without mentioning a prenup. She requested that Masterson pay her attorney’s fees as well.
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Danny Masterson and wife Bijou Phillips wed in 2006 after meeting at a celebrity poker tournament two years prior. In March 2017, Masterson — who welcomed daughter Fianna with Phillips in 2014 — was accused of sexual assault in the early 2000s by multiple women. As a result, he was written off from Netflix’s The […]
“Ms. Phillips has decided to file for divorce from her husband during this unfortunate time. Her priority remains with her daughter,” her attorney Lauzon Paluch told TMZ on Tuesday, September 19. “This period has been unimaginably hard on the marriage and the family. Mr. Masterson was always present for Ms. Phillips during her most difficult times of her life. Ms. Phillips acknowledges that Mr. Masterson is a wonderful father to their daughter.”
Phillips, who tied the knot with Masterson in 2011, previously remained by her estranged husband’s side after he was arrested and charged with three counts of rape. Following accusations from multiple women about alleged behavior in the early 2000s, Masterson was convicted on two of the three counts in May and sentenced earlier this month to 30 years to life in prison.
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Masterson maintained his innocence throughout the case — with Phillips remaining by his side prior to his sentencing. In a character witness letter penned to the judge in hopes of lessening his jail time, Phillips called Masterson a “life-saving partner” and “amazing father” to Fianna, whom they welcomed in February 2014.
“I depended on Danny to take care of me and our daughter. I always felt that she would be OK because Danny is an amazing father,” she explained in her letter, per The Underground Bunker. “He was devoted to our daughter, would read her books, take her on walks and to ballet lessons. I never once heard him complain. The two were inseparable.”
Phillips noted that even after Masterson was accused of sexual assault in 2017 — and subsequently fired from his TV show The Ranch — he “devoted himself” to finding alternative ways to “earn a living.
Among Masterson’s other character witnesses were his former That ‘70s Show costars Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher. After receiving backlash for their letters, the couple — who tied the knot in 2015 — took to Instagram to explain their thought process.
“We are aware of the pain that has been caused by the character letters that we wrote on behalf of Danny Masterson,” they said in a September 9 video. “We support victims. We have done this historically through our work and we will continue to do so in the future.”
Danny Masterson's Ups and Downs Through the Years: A Timeline
After guest appearances on various TV shows, Danny Masterson got his big break when he landed the role of Steven Hyde on That ‘70s Show. The FOX series, which premiered in 1999, followed teenagers coming of age in the fictional Wisconsin suburb of Point Place. Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Laura Prepon, Topher Grace and Wilmer […]
The following week, news broke that Kutcher, 45, resigned from his post as chairman of the board for anti-human trafficking organization Thorn, which he cofounded with ex-wife Demi Moore in 2009. (Kutcher and Moore, 60, called it quits in 2009 and finalized their divorce two years later.)
Masterson, meanwhile, plans to appeal his sentence, according to his lawyer Shawn Holley.“The errors which occurred in this case are substantial and unfortunately, led to verdicts which are not supported by the evidence,” Holley claimed to reporters earlier this month. “And though we have great respect for the jury in this case and for our system of justice overall, sometimes they get it wrong. And that’s what’s happened here.”
