Bijou Phillips Spends Quality Time With Daughter After Getting Full Custody From Danny Masterson
Bijou Phillips is focused on raising daughter Fianna while her estranged husband, Danny Masterson, serves out his 30-year prison sentence.
Phillips, 43, took to social media on Monday, December 11, to offer a glimpse of her 9-year-old daughter icing cookies for the holiday season. The actress kept Fianna out of the frame but the sweet mother-daughter bonding moment comes after Phillips was awarded full custody of her child.
Us Weekly confirmed in October that Masterson, 47, agreed to give Phillips full legal and physical custody of Fianna. She initially issued the request when she filed for divorce from Masterson one month prior. Masterson, for his part, requested visitation rights after being sentenced to 30 years in prison in his sexual assault retrial in September.
Phillips filed for divorce after 12 years of marriage days after Masterson’s sentencing. He was found guilty on two counts of forcible rape for incidents that occurred in the early 2000s. The actor has vehemently denied the allegations since he was arrested and charged in 2020.
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Before Masterson was found guilty, Phillips was by his side for the legal proceedings. She notably “began sobbing” and let out a “pained cry” when the guilty verdict was read in the courtroom in May, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Phillips also penned an emotional letter to Judge Charlaine Olmedo, where she advocated for Masterson’s character before his sentencing.
“I am writing to you to ask that you consider this information when sentencing my husband, Danny Masterson,” she wrote in a letter obtained by The Underground Bunker, which specializes in news about Scientology. “I depended on Danny to take care of me and our daughter. I always felt that she would be okay because Danny is an amazing father. 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, who married Masterson in 2011, said she and Fianna were “heartbroken” by his absence.
“More than anything, she loves her father. When he calls us each day, she ends with ‘I love you too much Daddy,’” she continued. “We need him more than you can imagine. I know he has been convicted of serious crimes. But the man I married has only been an extraordinary husband to me and a devoted father to our daughter.”
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Masterson’s attorney Shawn Holley told reporters in September that there were plans to appeal his client’s sentence. That same month, a source exclusively told Us that Phillips felt that she had no choice but to end her marriage over financial concerns.
“This experience has been devastating and humiliating for Bijou,” an insider said. “She’s focused on being a mom and preserving her future no matter what.”
