![\"A24\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ed44c7a400ff5d5c603f46ebec77f15b5b-busy-phillips.rsquare.w400.jpg\")
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Busy Philipps<\/a> shared in a new interview<\/a> with People that she underwent surgery for a rare brain tumor earlier this year. \u201cI\u2019m grateful that I\u2019m alive,\u201d Philipps told the outlet, calling this period\u00a0\u201cthe weirdest six months of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, Philipps said, she started looking into getting a Prenuvo scan<\/a>, a full-body MRI that claims to check for over 500 different conditions. She\u2019d read about the scan on Instagram, but when she brought up the prospect to her primary doctor, he apparently told her there was \u201cno need\u201d for it, considering Philipps was relatively young and healthy, and her bloodwork didn\u2019t show anything concerning. \u201cI didn\u2019t know why I wanted to get this scan except for the fact that I just did,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Ignoring her physician\u2019s advice, Philipps went ahead and scheduled the scan for January, though a blizzard later forced her to push the appointment to February. The day before the scan, her close friend and former Dawson\u2019s Creek co-star James Van Der Beek<\/a> died from colon cancer; the following day, she was due to meet with producers Robert and Michelle King, who were considering her for a role in their upcoming CBS show, Cupertino. Unsure of whether to cancel, she called her ex-husband and close friend, filmmaker Marc Silverstein. \u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018Maybe it\u2019s the best thing you could do for your friend this morning,\u2019\u201d Philipps recalled of their chat. \u201c\u2018Go get that scan.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Days after she went through with the scan, Philipps said, she got a call from her doctor, explaining that they\u2019d found a lesion on her brain. They\u2019d already ruled out glioblastoma, an aggressive cancerous tumor with no cure, but urged her to schedule a follow-up MRI as soon as possible. Upon reviewing the second scan, her neurologist told her, \u201c\u2018This is a real tumor, and it\u2019s inside your brain, and, Busy, it\u2019s got to come out,\u2019\u201d Philipps remembered. \u201cI was hyperventilating and trying to breathe.\u201d The same day, she learned she\u2019d been cast in Cupertino and was set to begin filming that spring.<\/p>\n Philipps scheduled her surgery to remove the tumor in March, weeks before production on Cupertino was slated to begin. While she initially kept the show\u2019s producers out of the loop, Philipps recalled the \u201cagony\u201d of having to fill in her daughters, 18-year-old Birdie and 13-year-old Cricket.<\/p>\n The procedure apparently lasted around five hours, and surgeons removed and biopsied a 2.6-centimeter mass that turned out to be a grade 2 oligodendroglioma, a slow-growing brain tumor that\u2019s found in about 1,000 to 1,300 people per year in the U.S. Per the Cleveland Clinic<\/a>, such tumors develop from oligodendrocytes, the support cells of the nervous system, and are mostly treatable, though they are known to reappear over time.<\/p>\n With 40 surgical staples in her head and very little pain, Philipps bounced back quickly and started work on Cupertino \u2014 that is, until she went to get Botox in April and her dermatologist noticed her incision site from the initial surgery was swollen. She wound up back in the hospital to get surgery for a\u00a0staphylococcus infection. \u201cThe second surgery really threw me,\u201d Philipps said. \u201cI just felt like I was back to square one, and I was really, really upset.\u201d<\/p>\n While she\u2019ll continue to get regular scans, Philipps says she doesn\u2019t need chemotherapy or radiation and has been told by her doctor that there\u2019s \u201ca great chance that this may not recur.\u201d To this, Philipps asks: \u201cWhat am I? The luckiest girl in the world?\u201d<\/p>\n Philipps is grateful the whole ordeal wasn\u2019t worse and that the mass was discovered as early as it was. If anything, she hopes women take her experience as a lesson to listen to their instincts. \u201cWe are frequently told by doctors that there is nothing to worry about [when] you kind of know that there\u2019s something to worry about,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing to be afraid of in having information. It\u2019s only empowering.\u201d<\/p>\n Stay in touch.<\/p>\n The latest in style, self, culture, and power in your inbox.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n