Busy Philipps reveals brain tumour diagnosis: ‘I’m grateful to be alive’

Actor says she had the ‘weirdest six months of my life’, after being diagnosed days after her Dawson’s Creek co-star James Van Der Beek died of cancer

Busy Philipps has revealed she had a brain tumour removed, which was diagnosed shortly after her Dawson’s Creek co-star James Van Der Beek died from bowel cancer.

The 47-year-old, born Elizabeth Philipps, starred in the hit US teen drama as Audrey Liddell opposite Van Der Beek, who died in February aged 48 after being diagnosed with bowel cancer.

The actor told People she is “grateful” that she is alive following a period she described as the “weirdest six months of my life”.

Known for Freaks And Geeks, Girls5eva and Cougar Town, Philipps said she did not present any obvious symptoms of having a tumour, such as seizures, and was reassured by her doctor that she did not need to have a scan, but felt she needed one regardless.

After consulting a second doctor months later, she went through with a whole-body MRI screening in February, which led to the discovery of the grade 2 oligodendroglioma, a rare low-grade (slow-growing) tumour.

In March she underwent a five-hour surgery, and a 2.6cm mass was removed from her brain.

Speaking to People, Philipps said: “I didn’t know why I wanted to get this scan except for the fact that I just did.

“We are frequently told by doctors that there is nothing to worry about [when] you kind of know that there’s something to worry about. There’s nothing to be afraid of in having information. It’s only empowering.”

Philipps said that over the past two years she would tell friends that her “brain feels broken” and assumed certain behaviours were caused by perimenopause.

Her doctor could not confirm whether it was related to the tumour or not.

She said: “I wasn’t consciously aware that anything was really wrong, but there was something that was misfiring. Like, I could not get a handle on it. [And now] my brain does not feel broken any more.”

Philipps debated cancelling the scan with her ex-husband, film-maker Marc Silverstein, as it came days after the death of her friend and former co-star Van Der Beek and just before an audition for a role in the upcoming legal drama Cupertino.

She recounted: “He’s like, ‘Maybe it’s the best thing you could do for your friend this morning. Go get that scan.’”

When neurologist Dr Orrin Devinsky told her the news, Philipps said she was “hyperventilating and trying to breathe”.

Two days after the surgery, she was back home recovering and said she “wasn’t in pain at all” with more than 40 surgical staples in her forehead.

Among the friends and family wishing her a swift recovery was Dawson’s Creek co-star Michelle Williams, who she said arranged “delicious” food service for her.

Philipps soon started her “dream job” playing Natalia Boutella in Cupertino, but not long into filming the series she learned she had contracted a staphylococcus infection in her incision and needed debridement surgery.

Despite this she said she felt grateful everything was caught early, adding: “What am I? The luckiest girl in the world?”