Busy Philipps is grateful to be alive after spending six months battling a brain tumor.
Talking with People in an interview published Wednesday, Philipps revealed that she learned about her grade 2 oligodendroglioma – a rare and slow-moving tumor – right as she booked her upcoming role on “Cupertino.” She called the experience “the weirdest six months of my life.”
“I’m grateful that I’m alive,” she said.
The tumor was discovered after Philipps did a Prenuvo MRI scan. She did it despite her doctors saying it wasn’t needed because she was young and did not have any symptoms but she felt the need to do it anyway.
The day before the scan was scheduled, Philipps’ friend and former “Dawson’s Creek” co-star James Van Der Beek lost his battle with cancer and the day after the scan she was set to meet with “Cupertino” creators Michelle and Robert King. She wondered if because of all that if she should just cancel the scan but a conversation with her ex-husband Marc Silverstein convinced her to stick it out.
“He’s like, ‘Maybe it’s the best thing you could do for your friend this morning. Go get that scan,’” she recalled him saying.
The scan caught the tumor, and Philipps secured the role in “Cupertino.” She just had to get the tumor removed so in March she went into surgery and the 2.6-centimeter tumor was taken out. She was sent home to rest with 40 stitches in her head and only a bit of swelling.
With the surgery behind her, Philipps shifted into focusing on her booked role in “Cupertino” but it wasn’t long before she hit a bump in the road. A trip to her dermatologist to get Botox ended with her doctor noticing her surgery incision and sending the pictures off to be examined.
“She’s like, ‘That doesn’t look right. I’m not going to touch it – can I take a picture of it and will you send it to your surgeons right now?’ And I did and they immediately were like, ‘That doesn’t look good,’” Philipps recalled.
It was quickly confirmed the actress had a staphylococcus infection and would require debridement surgery to clear things. It was an unexpected rock in the road.
“The second surgery really threw me,” she said. “I just felt like I was back to square one, and I was really, really upset.”
She bounced back though and is now looking toward “Cupertino.” She plays Natalia Boutella, a flamboyant financial backer of a law firm committed to helping out the Davids in a city of Goliaths. She stars alongside Mike Colter and Rachel Keller.
“Cupertino” debuts on CBS on Thursday, Oct. 8.
