Busy Philipps has revealed she underwent two brain surgeries after doctors discovered a rare tumor she had no idea was growing inside her head.
In an extraordinary twist, the actress nearly canceled the scan that uncovered it while grieving the death of her “Dawson’s Creek” co-star James Van Der Beek.
Now, Philipps is opening up about the frightening diagnosis, the painful conversation with her daughters, and a complication that sent her back into surgery just as she thought the worst was behind her.
Busy Philipps had no obvious symptoms when she became convinced she wanted a full-body MRI.
The 47-year-old told PEOPLE that she first became interested in the Prenuvo scan after reading about it on Instagram. When she raised the idea with her primary care doctor in 2025, however, he told her there was “no need” because she was young, healthy, and her annual blood work was normal.
Philipps remained interested after another doctor told her “knowledge is power,” and eventually booked the scan.
Her original January appointment was postponed because of a blizzard, pushing it to February 12.
That timing almost changed everything. James Van Der Beek had died from colorectal cancer just one day earlier, and Philipps was grieving while juggling work commitments and plans to help her sister through a medical procedure.
She considered canceling. However, her ex-husband, Marc Silverstein, urged her to reconsider, telling her, “Maybe it’s the best thing you could do for your friend this morning. Go get that scan.”
She went, and doctors found a lesion on her brain.
Philipps Learned She Had A Rare Tumor Despite Having No Symptoms
The discovery sent Busy Philipps into a whirlwind of appointments.
A follow-up MRI eventually led to neurologist Dr. Orrin Devinsky, who delivered the reality she had been hoping to avoid.
“This is a real tumor, and it’s inside your brain. And Busy, it’s got to come out,” Philipps recalled him telling her.
The actress said she began “hyperventilating and trying to breathe.”
Doctors scheduled surgery for March 2, with Silverstein accompanying her to the hospital. During the roughly five-hour operation, surgeons removed a 2.6-centimeter mass from her brain.
A biopsy identified it as a grade 2 oligodendroglioma, a rare slow-growing malignant tumor.
Philipps’ neuro-oncologist, Dr. Alexandra Miller, told PEOPLE that the condition has “the best prognosis of all of the malignant gliomas.”
Early detection also worked heavily in Philipps’ favor. Her surgeon explained that had doctors waited until symptoms such as seizures developed, the tumor could have grown substantially larger and become more difficult to remove completely.
Busy Philipps’ Diagnosis Left Her Daughter Terrified
One of the most difficult moments came before surgery, when Philipps had to tell her daughters, Birdie and Cricket, what doctors had discovered.
Birdie, now 18, struggled particularly hard with the news.
“She was kind of beside herself and really, really scared and overwhelmed with emotion,” Philipps recalled.
The actress tried to reassure her daughter with a promise that reflected just how frightening the situation had become.
“Birdie, you’re just not in the movie where your mom dies your senior year of high school,” she told her. “That’s just not the movie that you’re in. I promise you.”
Cricket, 13, reacted more calmly after asking her mother whether she would be okay.
Meanwhile, Philipps’ longtime friend and former “Dawson’s Creek” co-star Michelle Williams rallied around her during recovery, helping arrange meals after she returned home.
Philipps was moving around remarkably quickly after surgery despite having more than 40 staples in her head.
The recovery initially appeared to be going so well that she soon turned her attention back toward acting.
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Philipps had landed a role in the CBS series “Cupertino” around the same time doctors were preparing to operate.
She ultimately recovered enough to begin filming, describing the project as her “dream” job.
But in April, another frightening problem emerged. During a Botox appointment, Philipps’ dermatologist noticed something concerning about her surgical incision and refused to proceed. She urged the actress to immediately send a photograph to her surgeons.
Doctors agreed that something looked wrong. Philipps was eventually diagnosed with a staph infection in the incision and returned to the hospital for another operation on April 27. Surgeons cleaned the infected area and removed one of the tiny titanium tacks that had been placed in her skull during her first procedure.
Fortunately, doctors caught the infection before it became deep. Emotionally, however, the second surgery hit Philipps hard.
“The second surgery really threw me,” she admitted. “I just felt like I was back to square one, and I was really, really upset.”
Busy Philipps Wonders If Her Brain Had Been Warning Her For Years
Philipps does not currently need chemotherapy or radiation, although she will undergo regular scans to watch for recurrence.
Looking back, however, the actress questions whether there were subtle warning signs she failed to recognize.
She told PEOPLE that she had experienced unusually intense emotional reactions in recent years, including episodes of crying until she vomited and sending inflammatory messages when angry.
At the time, she attributed those changes to perimenopause.
Doctors have not established that the tumor caused those experiences, but Philipps remembered telling her surgeon about them. Michelle Williams also reminded her of something she had repeatedly said over the previous two years: “My brain feels broken.”
Philipps admitted she had felt as though “something was misfiring,” even though she was not consciously aware of anything being medically wrong.
After having the tumor removed, that feeling has changed. “My brain does not feel broken anymore,” she said.
After what she calls “the weirdest six months of my life,” Philipps is choosing to focus on how differently everything could have unfolded had she canceled that February scan.
“I’m grateful that I’m alive,” she shared.
