Jaeden Pinder
View all posts by Jaeden Pinder July 8, 2026
Bijou Phillips on May 20, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. Gilbert Flores/WWD/Getty Images Five months after making an urgent plea for a kidney donor, Bijou Phillips has received a transplant. The former actress and model was previously placed on dialysis and hospitalized at UCLA in Los Angeles for complications from a 2017 transplant. She thanked her family and the doctors at UCLA calling them her “heroes” throughout the life-saving procedure.
“I am beyond beyond grateful to everyone who rushed into help me, get checked to donate, you are all hero’s [sic]!” she wrote on Instagram Tuesday, July 7.
Phillips’ brother Aron Wilson donated his kidney to another patient in need, and in turn, a person close to the patient donated their kidney back to save Phillips’ life. She described the donor as a “perfect match,” that was “so close it’s like I got the kidney from one of my parents!”
She said she was blown away “by Dr Veale and the magic he does!,” later calling her doctor a “lifesaver.” “He didn’t cut the muscles so I didn’t even really need much pain medication at all, just Tylenol! I feel at five days out like I did four months after my last surgery!”
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Phillips was born with underdeveloped kidneys, and she revealed this left her in the NICU on dialysis for the first three months of her life. “In 2017, I received the incredible gift of a kidney from a dear friend,” she said on Instagram. “That transplant gave me 8 precious years to be a mother to my daughter — but I have had many complications since.”
Phillips contracted the BK virus, “which led to both a cellular and antibody rejection,” she described. According to the National Kidney Foundation, those who undergo organ transplants are at increased risk for the virus, also referred to as polyomavirus. “You can have BK virus in your system and not be aware of it,” the foundation shared on its website. “After your transplant, the virus may become active again. This is from the anti-rejection medicines. It can damage your new kidney and cause your body to reject it.”
