The actress had a kidney transplant in 2017, but said she has “had many complications since.”

Bijou Phillips is hospitalized and searching for a kidney donor: ‘I need help’

The actress had a kidney transplant in 2017, but said she has "had many complications since."

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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February 11, 2026 6:58 p.m. ET

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Bijou Phillips attends the Jam for Janie Grammy Awards Viewing Party in Hollywood in 2024. Credit:

Elyse Jankowski/Getty

Bijou Phillips has issued a public plea for help as she battles kidney disease.

"I need help finding a kidney," the *Almost Famous *actress wrote in post shared to her shared to her Instagram on Wednesday.

Over a series of photos of Phillips with her 11-year-old daughter, Fianna, she pled, "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."

On the last slide of her three-part post, titled, "My story," Phillips, 45, explained how she 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 8 precious years to be a mother to my daughter - but I have had many complications since."

Phillips has struggled with a condition called BK virus, which the UW School of Medicine and Public Health defines as a common virus that most individuals with regularly functioning immune systems fight off without adverse effects. But kidney transplant recipients are especially susceptible to the virus being activated, due to anti-rejection medication given to organ recipients. Symptoms of the virus can include fever, seizures, and muscle fatigue.**

"I am currently under care of Dr Anjay Rastogi at UCLA and back on dialysis," Phillips wrote. "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."

* *has reached out to Phillips' representative for comment.

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Phillips opened up about her initial need for a transplant in 2017.

"In an effort to heal her body she has led a stress-free life with a vegan diet, which eventually wasn’t enough and she's been privately having dialysis," a rep for Phillips told PEOPLE at the time. "She recently found out one of her friends is a match and is optimistic that she will have a transplant soon."

That transplant did come soon — just two months later. Danny Masterson, whom Phillips filed for divorce from in September 2023 amid his rape conviction that May, shared a picture of the former couple holding hands in hospital beds after the surgery.

"My lady has been slowing dying for the past 7 years of an incurable kidney disease. She was given the gift of an encore by a tall angel. Our daughter will have a mother. We do not take lightly how incredibly fortunate we are. 100% successful transplant," he wrote.****

Bijou Phillips during Olympus Fashion Week in NYC in 2005.

Lawrence Lucier/FilmMagic

The daughter of Mamas & The Papas singer-songwriter John Phillips and South African singer Geneviève Waïte, Phillips gained notoriety as a New York City "it girl," gracing the cover of *Interview Magazine* in 1994, when she was only 13. She later gained recognition for her performances in films like *Almost Famous *and *Bully*.

Phillips' famous friends flooded the comment section of her Wednesday post, with Paris Hilton writing "Love you so much sis. Sending you so much love, light, and strength," and her sister Nicky adding, "Love you Bij!"

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