Actor Danny Masterson has been sentenced to 30 years to life for the rape of two women on separate occasions between 2001 to 2003.
Ahead of the 7 September hearing, the former That 70s Show actor’s wife, Bijou Phillips, wrote to Judge Charlaine Olmedo, advocating for his character as someone who’s been a “life-saving partner” to her.
The 43-year-old model started: “I am writing to you to ask that you consider this information when sentencing my husband, Danny Masterson.”
Bijou explained how she’d been with Masterson since 2011, welcoming their daughter, Fianna Francis, in 2014. She spoke highly of his character as a husband and a father to their child.
“I can say that Danny has literally been a life-saving partner to me,” she wrote. “I depended on Danny to take care of me and our daughter. I always felt that she would be okay because Danny is an amazing father. He was devoted to our daughter, would read her books, take her on walks and to ballet lessons. I never once heard him complain. The two were inseparable.”
As an individual who went to rehab early on in life for drug abuse, Bijou pointed out how Masterson always encouraged sobriety for her, his colleagues, friends, family, and himself. “Danny has always been against drugs and helped so many friends and colleagues get sober. My husband, who never smoked a joint in his life, has strong feelings about drugs that have never wavered,” she said.
In the emotional plea, Bijou confessed how “heartbroken” she and Fianna were with Masterson in jail. However, their family has supposedly remained in contact daily. She added how her husband was the one thing their daughter loved most in this world, and that they needed him.
“More than anything, she loves her father. When he calls us each day, she ends with ‘I love you too much Daddy,’” Bijou wrote. “We need him more than you can imagine. I know he has been convicted of serious crimes. But the man I married has only been an extraordinary husband to me and a devoted father to our daughter.”
Masterson’s younger brother, Jordan, confirmed Bijou and Fianna’s struggle with having Danny locked up. Like his sister-in-law, he also wrote a character letter to the judge before Danny was sentenced.
“Danny is a loving father to his daughter and a loving husband to his wife,” he began. “He cares deeply for his family and always puts their needs first and foremost above his. When his wife needed a kidney transplant and was on dialysis for more than a year, my brother was by her side every step of the way. He moved mountains to get her the treatment she needed.
“Taking care of a young child and a gravely sick wife while also trying to maintain a career to pay for all of the above is extremely hard as you can imagine. But he did it. Never once did he complain or lament his situation.”
Jordan acknowledged the implications of his brother’s sentencing with the potential of spending the rest of his life in prison. He begged Judge Olmedo to consider the ramifications of this on Danny’s family.
“I understand the lengthy sentence he is facing per the statute and letter of the law,” Jordan proclaimed. “My brother is looking at the rest of his life in prison. I pray that isn’t the outcome. I ask for your utmost compassion with regards to Danny so that his family may get to see him again, his young daughter and wife most importantly. They are lost without him, as we all are.”
Bijou reportedly wept upon hearing the powerful victim impact statement read aloud in court ahead of Judge Olmedo’s official sentencing. When it was confirmed Masterson wouldn’t be eligible for parole until he was 77 years old, the sitcom star blew a kiss to his wife before being escorted out of the courtroom.
