Actress Busy Philipps, 47, publicly disclosed in a recent People magazine interview that she was diagnosed earlier this year with a grade 2 oligodendroglioma, a rare brain tumor.
The actress, known for roles in Dawson’s Creek, Freaks and Geeks, and Cougar Town, underwent two surgeries and described the period as “the weirdest six months of my life.” She added, “I’m grateful that I’m alive.”
Philipps had no obvious symptoms such as seizures. In 2025 her primary care physician advised against a full-body Prenuvo MRI, citing her age, health, and normal bloodwork. She later scheduled the scan after her cousin-in-law, internist Dr. Justin Donlan, told her “knowledge is power.”
A blizzard postponed the original January appointment to February 12, 2026 — the day after her former Dawson’s Creek co-star James Van Der Beek died of colorectal cancer. She added that she considered canceling the appointment, though she ultimately decided to go after her husband stating that doing so might be “the best thing you could do for your friend this morning.”
The scan detected a lesion, while a follow-up MRI confirmed a 2.6-centimeter mass in her frontal lobe. “This is a real tumor, and it’s inside your brain. And Busy, it’s got to come out,” Neurologist Dr. Orrin Devinsky told her.
#BusyPhilipps is reflecting on her brain tumor diagnosis and how she felt ‘divinely protected’ by her late friends #JamesVanDerBeek. #PeopleApp #ThePeopleInterview pic.twitter.com/VHIGIwda4w
— People (@people) August 26, 2026
Phillipps recalled hyperventilating and struggling to breathe as she processed the news. While on the phone with Donlan she texted Silverstein, “OMG I have a brain tumor.” She followed up, “It looks fine. It’s probably benign. I don’t know.” Glioblastoma was ruled out based on the lesion’s appearance.
On March 2, neurosurgeon Dr. John Golfinos performed a roughly five-hour operation at NYU Langone to remove and biopsy the mass. Testing identified a grade 2 oligodendroglioma, defined by two genetic alterations and diagnosed in an estimated 1,100 to 1,300 people per year in the United States.
“It is considered malignant, but it has the best prognosis of all of the malignant gliomas,” said Neuro-oncologist Dr. Alexandra Miller. She added that it is classified as cancerous “based on the ability of the tumor to regrow over time, rather than it looking very malignant under the microscope.”
Doctors added that the tumor could have grown two to three times larger if it did not come out. Philipps required neither chemotherapy nor radiation and will undergo regular monitoring.
Following the procedure, Philipps recovered quickly and began filming the CBS series Cupertino. In April, during a dermatology appointment, her doctor flagged the incision site. She developed a staphylococcus infection and underwent a second surgery on April 27 to debride the wound and remove one titanium tack used to secure skull bone.
“Fortunately, we got to it early, so it wasn’t a deep infection,” Golfinos noted. Phillipps described the second surgery as a setback that made her feel like she was “back to square one,” though she ultimately recovered from that as well.
“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,” she reflected in the interview.
