On his 47th birthday, disgraced actor Danny Masterson was at home with his family at their luxurious $1.27m ranch in Santa Ynez, California.
But the celebrations looked a little different this year, with the convicted rapist turning 48 last Wednesday inside the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.
Despite being locked up, his estranged wife Bijou Phillips was still included in the festivities – with the 43-year-old actress photographed visiting him in jail for the first time over the weekend.
Exclusive DailyMail.com photos show the mom-of-one arriving at the central California jail where Masterson is serving his 30-year sentence on Saturday during the prison’s weekend visiting hours.
Despite the occasion, dressed-down Phillips, who was accompanied by her 10-year-old daughter Fianna, didn’t appear to be a celebratory mood – looking stony-faced and resigned to her new reality, as she made her way into the jail clutching a piece of paper.
DailyMail.com spotted his Bijou Phillips taking their 10-year-old daughter Fianna to visit Danny Masterson at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo
Happier times: Masterson, Phillips and their daughter Fianna are pictured years before he was put on trial for rape
The 43-year-old actress was photographed visiting him in jail for the first time over the weekend
A devastated Phillips filed for divorce two days after Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life, citing ‘irreconcilable differences’
Phillips was handed full custody of their daughter in October and has requested that he pay her spousal support
The mother and daughter took the trip to the prison just days after Masterson celebrated his 48th birthday behind bars
Masterson has been banged up since May when he was found guilty of two counts of forcible rape following a dramatic eight-day trial and immediately sent to the cells.
In September, he was handed an indeterminate sentence of 30 years to life, with a devastated Phillips filing for divorce two days later, citing ‘irreconcilable differences’.
That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson was found guilty on two of three rape counts last May and sentenced to 30 years in prison
The surprise petition came after Phillips had penned an emotional letter to the court, describing Masterson ‘as an amazing father’ who worked to ‘shield younger actors from temptation’ while begging for leniency from LA County Judge Charlaine Olmedo.
Phillips was handed full custody of their daughter in October – unopposed by the rapist actor – and has requested that he pay her spousal support.
The mom-of-one has not been seen with her husband since fleeing the courtroom in tears after the sentencing hearing in September and has been keeping a low profile at the family ranch.
The property, which was purchased for $1.27m in 2016, sits on 9.5 acres and has a four-bedroom main house along with separate accommodation for guests and a barn with room for five horses.
Phillips is the sole owner which means, once her divorce is finalized, the property cannot be seized and sold to fund compensation claims against Masterson who is currently in the middle of a civil suit over his alleged harassment of the women he raped and several others.
Although in the process of divorcing the convicted rapist, Phillips has quietly cut ties with Scientology – ditching the religion in January after Masterson was kicked out by the church and declared a ‘suppressive person’.
Had Phillips remained a Scientologist, she and her daughter would have been allowed to have no contact with her estranged husband.
In January, an insider with close ties to former Scientology members said Phillips did not want to cut off Masterson because of their daughter.
The source told DailyMail.com: ‘Bijou left a few weeks after she found out that Danny had been declared an SP for not living up to the standards of the church. It’s never an easy decision to leave Scientology because you face being ripped apart from your family and friends who are still members.
‘In Bijou’s case, she had nothing to lose and wasn’t about to cut ties with Danny, per Scientology’s disconnection rules.’
The mom-of-one has not been seen with her husband since fleeing the courtroom in tears after the sentencing hearing in September and has been keeping a low profile at the family ranch
Masterson arrived at the minimum to medium security California Men’s Colony in late February
Phillips, dressed down in tan pants and a comfortable sweater, didn’t appear to be a celebratory mood while visiting the prison
‘Bijou would never do that to her daughter, plus her sisters, her close friends – none of them are Scientologists.
‘Chynna has been a rock for Bijou and even though she’s passionate about her own religion, she would never force anything on to Bijou. She doesn’t have to because she walks the talk.’
Masterson arrived at the minimum to medium security California Men’s Colony in late February after spending six weeks banged up at the maximum-security Corcoran State Prison 160 miles north of Los Angeles.
Prior to that, he had been incarcerated in the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles and then North Kern State Prison.
Corcoran is notoriously where Charles Manson served out his sentence and was, until recently, home to Perris House of Horrors dad David Turpin.
Masterson’s new digs are closer to his former family home which is just 65 miles southeast of San Luis Obispo – a pretty college town on the central California coast.
But despite the lower security level, the 48-year-old’s new cell mates are no less fearsome and include John Earnest, 24, who was handed life plus 121 years in September 2021 for shooting up a synagogue in San Diego in April 2019.
Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, was killed while three others were wounded in the shooting, including the synagogue’s rabbi, Yisroel Goldstein.
Also banged up with Masterson is killer California Highway Patrol officer Craig Peyer, 74, who is serving life for strangling student Cara Knott in 1986 and pedophile Jean Pierre Wehry, 66, who was locked up for life after being caught in a 2006 To Catch A Predator sting.
Previous residents include Manson Family members Bruce Davis, Tex Watson and Bobby Beausoleil, serial rapist Richard Minsky and disgraced Death Row Records boss Suge Knight.