Bijou Phillips is speaking candidly about a fight that has shaped much of her life — and is now at a critical point.
The 45-year-old model and actress recently revealed she was put on dialysis and is in need of a kidney transplant. Now, she’s opening up about what that reality looks like day to day — emotionally, medically, and as a mother.
“I’ve always wanted my life to be as private as I can make it,” she told Us Weekly. “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.’”
After beginning dialysis, she says she feels “pretty good.” But the situation remains urgent and complex.
“I was possibly going to be able to get a kidney from my brother [Aron Wilson], but he wasn’t a match. 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. “If he gives his kidney, it would put me higher on the list. So then I would get the next kidney that’s a match for me. I have antibodies [that make kidney rejection more likely], so it makes it complicated.”
Complicated is an understatement.
Bijou has lived with kidney disease since birth. She was born with underdeveloped kidneys and spent the first three months of her life on dialysis in the NICU. In 2017, she received a transplant from a “dear friend,” but complications followed, including the BK virus and cellular and antibody rejection.
Now, she’s once again waiting.
“I’ve been through a lot in my life, and I don’t know if I would change anything,” Bijou says. “I’m a pretty happy-go-lucky person, and I usually look at the bright side of things. It takes a lot to make me lose my way or feel sad.”
Still, the stakes are real.
“I’m sort of hanging on by a thread. My dad had a liver transplant when I was 10, and then when I was 20, he had to get on dialysis at UCLA. The medication you take when you’re transplanted is very toxic to kidneys,” she shared. “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.”
Her words are measured, but the urgency is clear.
“I’ve been immunosuppressed for so long… I could make it on dialysis for a couple years, or I could get an infection in my line tomorrow and be gone in a few days. I’m really hopeful, [but] it’s an extremely urgent situation.”
Through it all, her 12-year-old daughter, Fianna, remains her anchor.
“She’s the strongest little human,” Bijou says. “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.”
