Danny Masterson’s estranged wife Bijou Phillips files to change their daughter’s name after his rape conviction
Bijou Phillips, the ex-wife of actor Danny Masterson, wants to change her daughter’s last name in the wake of Masterson’s rape conviction two years ago.
Phillips, 45, filed a request in a California court on October 24 to change the name of her 11-year-old daughter from Fianna Francis Masterson to Fianna Francis Phillips, according to PEOPLE.
A judge is currently reviewing the request, according to TMZ, which broke the story.
On Friday, a judge also changed both Phillips and Masterson’s legal statuses to “single.”
Masterson, 49, was convicted of raping two women in September 2023. He is currently being held at North Kern State Prison in Delano, California.
Phillips filed for divorce from Masterson, whom she’d been married to for approximately 12 years, two weeks after he was sentenced. Her reason for the divorce was listed as “irreconcilable differences.”
“Ms Phillips has decided to file for divorce from her husband during this unfortunate time. Her priority remains with her daughter,” Phillips’ lawyer, Peter Lauzon, told PEOPLE in a statement at the time.
After his sentencing and the divorce filing, Masterson agreed to give Phillips full custody of their daughter.
Masterson was initially charged in 2020 with raping three women in separate incidents between 2001 and 2003. He was initially found guilty in May 2023 of two counts of rape. The third rape charge ended in a hung jury after more than seven days of deliberation.
In September, Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. He has maintained his innocence throughout his trial and sentencing.
Before his sentencing, Phillips submitted a letter to the judge describing Masterson as an “amazing father” and saying he and their daughter had an “inseparable” bond.
Since then, Masterson has filed to appeal his conviction. His lawyers have argued that the trial was “rife with erroneous judicial rulings that skewed the jury’s view of the evidence against him,” and that a “stunning amount of exculpatory evidence” was withheld from the jury.
Phillips has reportedly begun a relationship with fashion mogul Jamie Mazur.
