Bijou Phillips is “hanging on by a thread” as her desperate search for a kidney donor continues.
The model and socialite, who is currently receiving dialysis amid her devastating battle with kidney disease, opened up about her “urgent” situation in a candid interview with Us Weekly published Friday.
“I’ve needed a transplant for a year. I’m sort of hanging on by a thread,” Phillips, 45, told the outlet. “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 the kidneys,” she continued. “So when you get a transplant — heart or liver or kidney — within a decade, you’re probably going to need a kidney transplant.”
Phillips, who was born with underdeveloped kidneys, received her first kidney transplant from a friend in 2017.
However, Page Six confirmed earlier this month that the “Almost Famous” star was hospitalized at CORE Kidney at UCLA Health to receive dialysis because the kidney she received almost 10 years ago is failing.
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“I’ve been immunosuppressed for so long … I could make it on dialysis for a couple of years, or I could get an infection in my line tomorrow and be gone in a few days,” she shared with the outlet.
“I’m really hopeful, [but] it’s an extremely urgent situation,” Phillips admitted.
The “Raising Hope” alum went on to explain that she is “fighting” to stay alive so that she can be here for her 12-year-old daughter, Fianna.
Phillips shares Fianna with her ex-husband, Danny Masterson. The former couple married in October 2011 and welcomed their only child in February 2014.
But Phillips filed for divorce from the “That ’70s Show” alum in September 2023, less than two weeks after he was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women.
More recently, she filed to remove the disgraced actor’s surname from Fianna’s name.
“Now I’m a single mom, and things are different,” the ailing actress explained. “I want to be here for her, and I have to be here for her.”
“The fight is back,” she added. “That had been gone for a long time. I’m it. I’m all she’s got.”
The same day that Page Six confirmed Phillips was hospitalized and receiving dialysis at UCLA on Feb. 11, the “Bully” star took to social media to ask for help finding a kidney donor.
“I need help finding a kidney,” she wrote alongside a photo of her and a newborn Fianna. “I’m asking as a friend, a sister, an aunt, and, most importantly, a single mother to an incredible and brave daughter.”
“I am in need of a kidney,” she added before sharing her story.
The next day, however, it was reported that Phillips’ friends and family went “through the process” to see if they were a match to donate, but there were “no prospective donors” at the time.
Still, Phillips and her loved ones were said to be “optimistic” about finding a match in the next “couple of months.”
A rep for Phillips did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
