00:00Busy Phillips revealed the shocking news that she was diagnosed with a rare malignant brain
00:04tumor.
00:05The 47-year-old underwent two brain surgeries during the weirdest six months of her life.
00:09In her People cover story, the Dawson's Creek alum said she is grateful to be alive and
00:13dubbed herself the luckiest girl in the world.
00:16The actress's grade-two rare slow-growing tumor was discovered during a pre-nuvo scan
00:20on February 12, the day after her former co-star James Van Der Beek died of cancer.
00:25Phillips, notably, had been talked out of getting the full-body MRI in 2025 by her primary
00:32care doctor, but scheduled it anyway, following a conversation with her cousin-in-law, Dr.
00:37Justin Donlan.
00:38The internist told the 47-year-old knowledge is power, which really resonated with her.
00:42Phillips even considered canceling the appointment before her ex-husband, Mark Silverstein, convinced
00:47her otherwise.
00:48The Freaks and Geeks alum immediately texted Silverstein comical messages when a lesion was
00:53found on her brain.
00:55She recalled,
01:07She underwent another MRI, with a neurologist subsequently telling her,
01:16The confirmation left Busy hyperventilating and trying to breathe, and feeling she had no
01:21choice but to tell her two children, Birdie, age 18, and Cricket, who is 13.
01:26Her eldest was kind of beside herself, and really, really scared, and overwhelmed with
01:30emotion.
01:31Phillips remembered, I just kept saying to her, Birdie, you're just not in the movie where
01:35your mom dies your senior year of high school.
01:37That's not the movie that you're in.
01:39I promise you.
01:40Cricket's reaction was like, okay, you're going to be fine.
01:43And I was like, I'm totally going to be fine.
01:45And she's like, okay.
01:47The 2.6 centimeter mass was removed during a five-hour procedure on March 2nd.
01:52Phillips' neuro-oncologist, Dr. Alexandra Miller, told People that the tumor would have been
01:57much harder to take the whole thing out had it not been detected early, as it would have
02:01been two or three times the size.
02:02It is considered malignant, but it has the best prognosis of all the malignant gliomas,
02:07the doctor clarified.
02:09It's sort of defined as a cancerous tumor based on the ability of the tumor to regrow
02:13over time, rather than it looking very malignant under the microscope.
02:16One month into Phillips' recovery, her dermatologist expressed concern over the incision site during
02:21a Botox session.
02:22She then needed a second surgery to clear the infection, which really threw her.
02:26I just felt like I was back to square one, Phillips explained.
02:29I was really, really upset.
02:31She gushed that she now no longer feels like her brain is broken, something she told BFF
02:36Michelle Williams prior to her diagnosis.
02:38I've been saying this for the last few years, Phillips noted.
02:41I wasn't consciously aware that anything was really wrong.
02:44But there was something that was misfiring.
02:46Like, I could not get a handle on it.
02:48We were frequently told by doctors that there is nothing to worry about when you kind of know
02:52there's something to worry about, she added.
02:54There is nothing to be afraid of in having information.
02:57It's only empowering.
02:58Phase 24
02:59Resort
