Actress Busy Philipps says she’s “grateful to be alive” after undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumor.
In an exclusive interview with People, the Freaks and Geeks actress shared how the brain tumor was discovered and what the recovery process for her was like.
Philipps said that the discovery of the tumor began in June 2025 with her asking her doctor at her yearly physical about their opinion on full-body MRI screenings, which have recently become increasingly popular for detecting early-stage cancers, autoimmune disorders and more. Her doctor told her there was no need for one because he told her she was healthy.
Months later, the actress said that she got a second opinion from a doctor in her family who told her the screenings were great, saying, “Knowledge is power.”
Philipps said that her scan was scheduled in February 2026, a day after the death of her friend and former Dawson’s Creek co-star James Van Der Beek. Days later, she received the results of the scan, which revealed a lesion in her brain.
While recalling the moment that she had to get an MRI scan done, Philipps said, “My life was sort of flashing before my eyes a little bit.”
After learning the results of her scan, the actress said she got in touch with her daughter’s neurologist, Dr. Orrin Devinsky, who treats her for epilepsy. He reviewed her scan and told Philipps that the tumor had to come out. Devinsky then introduced Philipps to Dr. Golfinos, who facilitated the surgery.
When it came to telling her daughters Birdie Leigh Silverstein and Cricket Pearl Silverstein, whom she shares with ex-husband Marc Silverstein, Philipps said that she had to be “honest” with them, adding that Birdie took the news much harder and said she was “really, really scared.”
“I just kept saying to her, ‘Birdie, you’re just not in the movie where your mom dies senior year of high school, that’s just not the movie that you’re in. I promise you,'” she said.
After the surgery, Philipps said that doctors learned that the tumor was 2.8 cm by 1.8 cm and it was located on her right frontal lobe. After testing a sample of the tumor, doctors told her that it was a stage 2 glioma “caused by an IDH mutation.” According to the National Institutes of Health, gliomas are “the most common primary brain tumors of the central nervous system.”
Treatment for gliomas may vary based on tumor stage, with some patients undergoing surgery only and some patients needing to undergo additional treatment such as radiation and chemotherapy to destroy remaining cancer cells, according to the NIH. The actress said the doctors removed the tumor completely, and she isn’t undergoing any other treatment at this time. But she does have to get scans every three months for the next two years.
“It really is sort of the best case scenario of the worst case scenario, I suppose,” Philipps said.
While the surgery appeared to have gone smoothly for Philipps, it was a second procedure that she said “really threw me.”
Six weeks after the initial surgery, Philipps said she was told her that her surgical incisions needed debridement, which, according to the NIH, is the removal of dead, damaged, infected or foreign tissue from a wound to help healthy tissue heal.
Following the procedure, Philipps said doctors found two different forms of staphylococcus infection. She also said she was on a high dose of oral antibiotics for 29 days.
Philipps said that she healed after the debridement and that she hopes that others, especially women, can learn from her experience.
“First of all, there’s nothing to be afraid of in having information, it’s only empowering,” she said. “And secondly, if you feel anything, don’t let some doctor be like, there’s — ‘I don’t like it, you don’t need to do it. That’s a waste of time.’ See things through if you can.”
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