Busy Philipps Reveals Brain Tumor Diagnosis and Surgery, Says Early Scan Caught It in Time

Busy Philipps was told she didn't need a scan. She got one anyway, and it caught a brain tumor in time. The actress underwent two brain surgeries this year, just weeks before stepping onto the set of her new series.

Busy Philipps is grateful she caught her brain tumor in time.

The actress had undergone two surgeries this year after a full-body scan detected a tumor in her brain, just weeks before she began filming her new CBS series, “Cupertino.”

Philipps, 47, opened up about her health struggle in an exclusive interview with People. She revealed that she discovered the tumor in February after getting a Prenuvo scan, a full-body MRI she'd been curious about for months. Her doctor previously told her she didn’t need one, since she was young and healthy, and her bloodwork was normal.

With encouragement from her cousin's husband, an internist, Philipps had scheduled the scan for early February. But the day before her appointment, her "Dawson's Creek" costar James Van Der Beek died of colon cancer, and she considered canceling — until her ex-husband, Marc Silverstein, urged her to go anyway.

The scan found a lesion in her brain, and it was later diagnosed as a grade 2 oligodendroglioma, a rare, slow-growing tumor found in roughly 1,100 to 1,300 people annually in the U.S., according to her neuro-oncologist, Dr. Alexandra Miller.

To remove the tumor before it could grow further, Philipps underwent a five-hour surgery on March 2 at NYU Langone, led by neurosurgeon Dr. John Golfinos. She began filming "Cupertino" soon after. In April, however, she developed a staph infection at the incision site and required a second surgery to clear it.

Philipps said catching the tumor before symptoms appeared, such as seizures, made a big difference in her treatment. Golfinos confirmed that if it remained undetected longer, the tumor likely would have grown substantially larger and been harder to remove.

She does not require chemotherapy or radiation, but she will just need to undergo regular scans to monitor any recurrence. Doctors say her prognosis is favorable.

Philipps hopes her experience encourages others, particularly women, to advocate for their own health. She said doctors often dismiss concerns that patients sense are cause for worry, adding, “There’s nothing to be afraid of in having information. It’s only empowering.”

Philipps also addressed the news in an Instagram video, revealing that her daughter Birdie had texted her, "they think yr dying queen."

Philipps told followers she waited six months to share her diagnosis publicly because she wanted to be certain everything was okay first, for the sake of Birdie, 18, and her younger daughter, Cricket, 13. She also joked that she's not going anywhere — and plans to keep “annoying” Birdie for a long time to come.