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Danny Masterson’s wife files for divorce after actor’s rape sentence
The Industry Sep 20, 2023
Bijou Phillips and Danny Masterson in 2009. | Photo courtesy of Amy Puzia/Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)
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Roughly two weeks after “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women, his wife — actress Bijou Phillips — has filed for divorce.
“Ms. Phillips has decided to file for divorce from her husband during this unfortunate time,” her attorney, Peter Lauzon, told TMZ, which was first to report the filing. “Her priority remains with her daughter. This period has been unimaginably hard on the marriage and the family. Mr. Masterson was always present for Ms. Phillips during her most difficult times of her life. Ms. Phillips acknowledges that Mr. Masterson is a wonderful father to their daughter.”
The divorce papers were filed Monday in Santa Barbara, according to “Entertainment Tonight.”
The couple was married in 2011 and had a daughter in 2014.
Phillips, 43, stood by her husband’s side during the lengthy rape case. When Masterson, 47, was convicted in May, Phillips cried out in the courtroom, prompting an admonition from the judge, who asked her to maintain her composure.
She wrote a letter to the judge in support of her husband’s character ahead of the sentencing hearing, saying he “devoted himself to finding other ways to earn a living” after he lost his acting career due to the rape case. She wrote that he moved the family to a farm in Santa Ynez, where he “immediately began to work the land and grow a beautiful vineyard with 6,000 vines, that he tended on his own for six years.”
She wrote that she understands Masterson was “convicted of serious crimes,” saying she and their daughter, whom he called every day from jail, are “heartbroken that he is not home with us.”
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