Bijou Phillips undergoes kidney transplant after desperate months-long search for donor as she shares photos from hospital

Bijou Phillips breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday when she announced that she had finally received a life-saving kidney transplant.

The 46-year-old actress revealed her good news on Facebook with a beaming photo from her hospital bed as she recuperated from surgery.

'I am beyond beyond grateful to everyone who rushed into help me, get checked to donate, you are all heros!' she gushed in her caption.

Phillips, 45, had sought the public's help in finding a living donor earlier this year after a kidney transplant she received in 2017 was rejected. While on dialysis, she told her social media followers in February that 'time is of the essence.'

The Daily Mail has reached out to Phillips for comment but has not yet received a response.

In her new post, the actress – who filed for divorce from her husband Danny Masterson in 2023 after he was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women – explained that the selfless actions of her brother and others had played a role in her finally finding a healthy kidney. 

'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 gushed. 'So close it’s like I got the kidney from one of my parents!' 

Earlier this year, Phillips emphasized just how dire her condition was by saying that she could be 'gone in a few days' if she were to contract a kidney infection, but she was now able to enthuse about just how smoothly her surgery went. 

'I am so blown away by Dr. Veale and the magic he does! The kidney exchange, voucher program, and his surgical skills!!!' she continued. 'He only cut the facia! He didn’t cut the muscles so I didn’t even really need much pain medication at all, just Tylenol!'

The actress added that 'at five days out,' she felt just as good as she did 'four months' after her 2017 transplant. 

'The technique he developed is brilliant and he is a lifesaver!' she said of her surgeon.

Phillips concluded her post by thanking the 'amazing drs and coordinators and nurses and everybody' at UCLA Health who had 'been so wonderful and amazing' before leaving a special message for her brother, Aron Wilson.

'love you Aron! Thank you the most! 🥰🙏,' she added.

In February, Phillips shared with Us Weekly that her brother had volunteered to donate a kidney to her, but doctors ultimately determined that he wasn't a close-enough match.

However, his donation to another person in need of a transplant got the ball rolling on Phillips's transplant search.

In addition to her smiling photo from her hospital bed, she posted a sweet image of her brother Aron by her side in the hospital.

Phillips highlighted how her family was sticking by her side throughout her medical ordeal with a sweet group selfie snapped by her 12-year-old daughter Fianna.

The group included her half-sister, Wilson Phillips singer Chynna Phillips, as well as Chynna's husband, the actor Billy Baldwin.

Phillips closed her post with a short video of herself grinning ear to ear as she revealed that she was feeling well enough to walk through a medical facility lobby while an employee pushed a wheelchair with a gorgeous flower bouquet ahead of her.

Back in February, Phillips indicated that she could potentially die within days if she fell victim to a serious infection.

'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,' she told Us Weekly. 'I’m really hopeful, [but] it’s an extremely urgent situation.'

Phillips has started dialysis again, a treatment intended for those suffering from kidney failure which cleans the blood.

'I feel pretty good since I started dialysis… 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.' 

Phillips said she was 'sort of hanging by a thread' as her wait for a donor continued.

'I’ve needed a transplant for a year. 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,' she said of her father, John Phillips of the Mamas & the Papas fame, who died in 2001 at 65.

'The medication you take when you’re transplanted is very toxic to kidneys. 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.'

In the wake of the ordeal, Phillips said she had found solace in religion.

'I’ve been praying a lot. I’m in a little group that prays the rosary in the morning, right after drop-off. I’m going to try to do a traditional Lent, fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays,' she said. (A representative for Phillips debunked speculation that she was a member of Scientology to Us Weekly, telling the outlet that she was never a member of the church and that her sole link to it was her estranged husband Danny Masterson, a lifelong member.)

On a typical day, Phillips said she is able to retain a semblance of normalcy.

'Today I took my daughter to school, came home, had a little snack, went to dialysis, came home, and normally I would go do a couple things, grab her from school, take her if she has an after-school thing, or maybe go get an early dinner or come home and make dinner, she explained. 'That’s my day. If I don’t have dialysis, I’m running errands and going to the grocery store.'

It's an issue that has been afflicting her since she was a baby. Phillips was born with underdeveloped kidneys and was on dialysis the first three months of her life with limited kidney function, according to Us Weekly.

At 36, she received her first kidney transplant and was living a full life until her health took a turn for the worse in the past year.

'Before I got the call that my… kidneys were failing again, I was playing shows and putting music out,' she said. 'I was working on a new album… I was about to go make a movie in Bulgaria… I was so excited – it was such a good part – but I had to pull out because I got sick.' 

Back in 2017, Phillips’s then-husband Masterson publicly shared news of her kidney transplant, revealing on social media that she had received a life-saving donation and was beginning her recovery.

In February, Phillips took to Instagram with an emotional plea for help, urging followers to share her message and consider becoming a living donor.

She revealed she was under the care of a doctor at UCLA and was on dialysis again. 

A representative for the actress told Variety at the time that Phillips had been hospitalized for a second kidney transplant and was looking for a donor. 

‘please read and share. and if you are interested in becoming a living donor, please go to the link in my bio and fill out a brief form. I am so grateful for your support, ’ Phillips wrote on Instagram alongside baby photos of her daughter, Fianna Francis Masterson, whom she shares with Masterson.

In one of the posts, Phillips detailed her lifelong battle with kidney disease, writing: ‘I was born with underdeveloped kidneys and spent the first three months of life in the NICU on dialysis.

'In 2017, I received the incredible gift of a kidney from a dear friend.

'That transplant gave me 5 precious years to be a mother to my daughter – but I have had many complications since, including the BK virus which led to both a cellular and antibody rejection.

'I am currently under care of Dr Anjay Rastogi at UCLA and back on dialysis

'Please help me find a living donor so that I can have more time with my daughter, family, and friends. Time is of the essence.’