Bijou Phillips Gives Update On Kidney Health, Says She's 'Sort of Hanging On by a Thread'

Bijou Phillips is opening up about her health after hospitalization.

The 45-year-old model was put on dialysis a few weeks ago and shared that she was in need of a kidney transplant.

Now, Bijou gave an update on how she’s doing amid fighting for her life.

Keep reading to find out more…

“I’ve always wanted my life to be as private as I can make it,” she told Us Weekly. “To put my health out there publicly was terrifying, but my friends and family got fed up with me. They took control and were like, ‘We’re doing this.’”

On how she’s currently doing, Bijou says she feels “pretty good” after starting dialysis.

“I was possibly going to be able to get a kidney from my brother [Aron Wilson], but he wasn’t a match. He’s maybe going to be able to get into the kidney exchange, but they’re not sure. They’ve already denied him once, so he’s gonna try again,” she said. “If he gives his kidney, it would put me higher on the list. So then I would get the next kidney that’s a match for me. I have antibodies [that make kidney rejection more likely], so it makes it complicated.”

The model notes that she’s feeling strong emotionally.

“I’ve been through a lot in my life, and I don’t know if I would change anything,” Bijou says. “I’m a pretty happy-go-lucky person, and I usually look at the bright side of things. It takes a lot to make me lose my way or feel sad.”

When asked if doctors have given her a timeline on when she needs a transplant, she said she’s needed one for a year.

“I’m sort of hanging on by a thread. 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 kidneys,” she shared. “So when you get a transplant — heart or liver or kidney — within a decade, you’re probably going to need a kidney transplant. My dad needed to get on dialysis after his liver transplant, [and] he got an infection in his line and was dead within three days because his immune system was so weak. So for me, getting on dialysis at UCLA was terrifying.”

“I’ve been immunosuppressed for so long… I could make it on dialysis for a couple years, or I could get an infection in my line tomorrow and be gone in a few days. I’m really hopeful, [but] it’s an extremely urgent situation,” she added.

As for her young daughter, Fianna, 12, is dealing with it all, Bijou says “she’s the strongest little human.”

“She takes things that are really hard in life and handles them in this really classy way. I don’t deserve such an amazing human in my life. It’s magical,” she adds.

If you didn’t know, Bijou previously received a kidney transplant in 2017 from a “dear friend,” but she has had “many complications since,” including the BK virus which led to a cellular and antibody rejection, she says.

She has reportedly suffered from kidney disease since birth, after being born with underdeveloped kidneys and spending the first three months of her life on dialysis in the NICU.