Bijou Phillips Returns to Instagram After Husband Danny Masterson's Sentencing and Filing for Divorce

Bijou Phillips and Danny Masterson in May 2023
Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

The actress filed for divorce from her husband of 12 years in September.

Danny Masterson's estranged wife, Bijou Phillips, has returned to social media weeks after she filed for divorce in the wake of her husband being sentenced to prison for rape. 

Phillips, the daughter of The Mamas & The Papas singer John Phillips and actress Genevieve Waite, took to Instagram on Halloween to send longtime friend Nicky Hilton a birthday message in her first post since 2020. 

"Happy Birthday Nicky! Love you so much!" the Almost Famous actress, 43, wrote. 

In the post, Phillips shared two pictures of herself and the Hilton heiress, 40 -- one including Alice + Olivia CEO Stacey Bendet and U Beauty founder Tina Chen Craig. 

"Love youuu," Hilton replied underneath the post. 

The Halloween return marks the first post for the actress since June 2020 when she took part in the campaign to flush Instagram with black squares amid the Black Lives Matter protests after George Floyd's death. Phillips has been notably silent since and even turned off her comments at one point. 

In September, Phillips filed for divorce from Masterson, 47, after 12 years of marriage and following his conviction and sentencing to 30 years in prison for two counts of rape. Both women had met the That '70s Show actor through the Church of Scientology.

In court documents obtained by ET,  Phillips cited "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for the dissolution of the marriage.

At the time, Phillips' lawyer, Peter A. Lauzon, told ET that his client's top priority "remains with her daughter."

Along with spousal support and the restoration of her maiden last name, Phillips requested legal and physical custody of their 9-year-old daughter, Fianna Francis Masterson. 

Masterson ultimately responded to her divorce filing and agreed to give her custody of Fianna. He also checked off that he should be granted visitation time with her.

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Throughout the trial and the investigation into Masterson, Phillips stood by her husband as he maintained his innocence. 

After news broke in March 2018 that Masterson was being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department over multiple sexual assault allegations stemming from the early 2000s, he claimed the accusations were false and that the women who came forward were contacted by actress Leah Remini, a former member of the Church of Scientology. 

A rep for Masterson released a lengthy statement claiming that the whole situation was falsified "to boost Leah Remini's anti-Scientology television series." Remini and A&E released their docuseriesLeah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, in 2017. The series aimed to shed light on the Church of Scientology. 

Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Masterson was charged in June 2020 and his first trial ended in a mistrial in 2022.

In May, The Ranch actor was found guilty on two of the three counts of rape brought against him. When the verdict was announced, Phillips was in the courtroom and let out a wail after it was announced that he had been found guilty.  

Phillips and Masterson wed in October 2011 in Ireland. 

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