Busy Philipps Found Out She Had A Brain Tumor Just Days After James Van Der Beek Died

Elyse Wanshel Fri, August 28, 2026 at 1:27 AM UTC

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Busy Philipps is opening up about “the weirdest six months” of her life.

The “Girls5eva” star told People in an interview published Wednesday that in February — just days after her “Dawson’s Creek” co-star and friend James Van Der Beek died of colon cancer — she found out that she had a Grade 2 oligodendroglioma, a rare, slow-growing tumor in the frontal lobe of her brain.

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Philipps soon underwent two surgeries — one to have the tumor removed and another when her incision became infected.

“I’m grateful that I’m alive,” Philipps told People, noting that she didn’t have any obvious symptoms.

Busy Philipps at A24’s “Marty Supreme” New York premiere on Dec. 16, 2025, in New York.John Nacion via Getty Images

The tumor was detected by a Prenuvo scan, a full-body MRI that checks for more than 500 conditions and costs around $2,500. The New York Times reports that although it confirmed that Philipps did not receive the scan for free, “the company has provided influencers with free scans and in some cases has given them discount codes to share with their followers.”

The Times adds that “Kim Kardashian, the television host Maria Menounos and the ‘Selling Sunset’ star Mary Bonnet are among the celebrities who have extolled the Prenuvo scans.”

Philipps told People that she almost bailed on getting the scan altogether.

Philipps speaks during #BlogHer20 Health at Rolling Greens Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2020, in Los Angeles.Sarah Morris via Getty Images

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The “Freaks and Geeks” alum said that the day Van Der Beek died, she went to dinner with a few friends to process the loss. During the dinner, she got a bit of good news — her agent called to let her know that Robert and Michelle King, creators of “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight,” were interested in meeting with her for their new project, “Cupertino.”

“It just felt like it was a gift from James,” Philipps joked in a clip of her interview she posted on her Instagram account. She told her agent she wanted to meet with the Kings that week.

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The next day, she realized she’d forgotten about her scan and was thinking of backing out until her ex-husband and close friend, filmmaker Marc Silverstein, called to see how she was handling the loss of Van Der Beek.

“And I was like, ’I’m OK … I caught this big audition for tomorrow, and I scheduled this scan. Should I just cancel it?” Philipps recalled. “He’s like, ‘Maybe it’s the best thing you could do for your friend this morning. Go get that scan.’”

Philipps got the news about a lesion in her brain shortly after auditioning for “Cupertino” and was told to get a follow-up MRI to investigate further.

“‘This is a real tumor, and it’s inside your brain. And Busy, it’s got to come out,’” Philipps recalled the doctor telling her on a phone call after the follow-up MRI. “I was hyperventilating and trying to breathe.”

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Philipps with her close friend and “Dawson’s Creek” co-star Michelle Williams (L) at  Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2017 in Los Angeles. People reports Williams helped Philipps through her complicated recovery.Christopher Polk via Getty Images

On March 2, Philipps underwent a five-hour surgery to remove the tumor in her brain. Her doctor told People that the tumor is “considered malignant, but it has the best prognosis of all of the malignant gliomas.”

“It’s sort of defined as a cancerous tumor based on the ability of the tumor to regrow over time, rather than it looking very malignant under the microscope,” the doctor explained.

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Philipps said her recovery was quick, but when she visited her dermatologist for Botox in April, the doctor noticed that her surgical incision looked a little off. Philipps had developed a staph infection at the incision site and needed a second surgery to remove infected tissue.

“The second surgery really threw me,” Philipps said. “I just felt like I was back to square one, and I was really, really upset.”

According to several videos on Philipps’ Instagram page, she dealt with this nightmare situation with a lot of humor.

In a carousel post, Philipps said she jokingly asked her surgeons if they could give her a brow lift when they cut the mass out of her brain.

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Their answer?: No.

In another video in the same carousel post, Philipps exhibited both fear and gratitude before her surgery.

“I don’t have a choice, this is happening tomorrow,” Philipps says in the video with a smirk. “And I feel like …”

After a long pause, she finally spoke.

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“Like it’s a blessing, and I’m so lucky,” she said while choking back tears.

“I’m so lucky to have the doctors I have,” she added. “To have the access to the care that I have.”

Read more at People.

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