A Look Back At Danny Masterson's Dating History Before Bijou Phillips

The following article includes allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Danny Masterson's relationship history before he married fellow actor Bijou Phillips includes some of the women who have accused him of rape. Bijou was in the Los Angeles courtroom when her husband received a 30-year prison sentence for two sexual assaults that occurred in the 2000s, and a courtroom sketch depicts the moment Masterson blew her a kiss after learning his fate.

Bijou and Masterson wed in 2011 after seven years of dating. Bijou's relationship prior to her long-term romance with the "That '70s Show" star had been with a nepo baby like herself: John Lennon's son, Sean Lennon. In a 2009 interview with Paper magazine, Phillips, whose father is the late Mamas & the Papas singer John Phillips, recalled how Masterson first attracted her attention while they were competing against each other in a celebrity poker tournament. "Every guy at the table was flirting with me but Danny. He wasn't laughing at my jokes," she said. Masterson confessed to Paper that he also wasn't exactly Mr. Wonderful when he and Phillips filmed the 2009 movie "The Bridge to Nowhere" together. "I found myself being a bit rude to her. I felt like an a**hole," he shared.

Almost a decade before he and Phillips became a couple, Masterson dated another actor who worked with him. She'd later take him to court after years of remaining silent about the abuse she allegedly suffered during their relationship.

In 2017, model Christina Carnell Bixler revealed that she was one of the women who had contacted the LAPD to accuse Danny Masterson of rape. During her 2022 testimony, Bixler said that she first met Masterson in 1996, and they soon started dating. She joined the Church of Scientology at his behest and followed the church's purported instructions to cut non-Scientologists out of her life. While with Masterson, she began acting, appearing alongside him in "That '70s Show" and in an episode of "Spin City."

Bixler accused Masterson of sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions and recalled how he struck her in the face once when she tried to fight back. "I started screaming," she said, per Variety. "He stood up over me and spit on me and called me white trash." The jury ultimately deadlocked on her accusations against Masterson.

In 2019, Bixler filed a civil suit against her ex and the Church of Scientology. She claimed that Masterson and church officials were terrorizing her because she had gone to the police. Per The Hollywood Reporter, she said that people were parking near her residence and surveilling her. She also claimed that she was being harassed on social media and receiving revenge porn threats. In what was believed to be a response to her lawsuit, Masterson released a statement that read in part, "I'm not going to fight my ex-girlfriend in the media like she's been baiting me to do for more than two years."

While Danny Masterson was photographed looking cozy with "CSI: NY" actor Natalie Martinez at an October 2003 party promoting the MTV series "Made," they managed to keep their rumored relationship low-key and haven't publicly uttered a peep about it. Around that same time, Masterson was romantically linked to model Bobette Riales. In August 2003, Us Weekly (via the New York Post) reported that the pair had been spotted on a double date with Masterson's "That '70s Show" co-star Ashton Kutcher and Kutcher's girlfriend at the time, Demi Moore.

Riales made some serious allegations against Masterson on Twitter in 2017. "Danny Masterson repeatedly raped me. All I seek is justice and to prevent this from ever happening to anyone else as it has for some time. My truth will be heard," she wrote. She also had a message for Christina Carnell Bixler: "I applaud her strength as well." 

In addition to her modeling work, Riales has done some acting, starring alongside Kevin Sorbo in the 2021 series "Knight's End." She also appeared in an episode of actor Leah Remini's docuseries "Scientology and the Aftermath" and spoke about Masterson. She shared that it was Bixler who inspired her to speak out about her own alleged experiences, and she later joined Bixler's civil lawsuit. "I knew a lot of things were wrong in our relationship," she said, per USA Today. "Never once did it occur to me that he was doing this to other girls."

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).