Busy Philipps Recalls the Moment She Learned She Had a Brain Tumor: "The Wind Sort of Knocked Out of Me"

Busy Philipps recalls the exact moment she learned she needed surgery to remove a brain tumor. In a new interview with PEOPLE, the Cougar Town alum, 47, details how she got a full-body Prenuvo scan in February, which showed she had a lesion on her brain. She needed a follow-up MRI to get a closer look, and Dr. Orrin Devinsky of NYU Langone reviewed the scan.

Philipps was filming a guest spot on the Netflix show Bad Thoughts in Los Angeles when Devinsky texted her: "'Do you think you can get on a phone call? The team all looked at your MRI, Busy. Do you think you can get on a phone call?' I was like, 'Actually, we're breaking. I'm filming this thing. We're breaking for lunch in five minutes.' He's like, 'I'm going to call you then.' They yelled 'lunch!' and my phone rang," she recalls.

The Call That Changed Everything

"Dr. Devinsky says to me, 'I'm just going to say this to you the way I would want someone to say it to me.' That was when the wind sort of knocked the wind out of me, and I had to sit down. He was like, 'I need you to breathe. I can hear that you're not breathing.' And I was like, 'Just tell me what's happening.' And he is like... 'This is a real tumor, and it's inside your brain. Busy, it's got to come out,'" she says.

The news came at a moment of professional triumph. Philipps had just learned that she was cast on the new CBS drama Cupertino, which was set to start filming that spring. "So I'm like, 'Cupertino is happening. I have a brain tumor that has to come out of my head. What are you saying to me right now? What are you talking about?' I was hyperventilating and trying to breathe," she says.

Though the medical team was able to tell that the tumor wasn't glioblastoma an aggressive cancerous tumor with no cure they couldn't tell exactly what it was without a biopsy. "Again, I was like, 'Just tell me it's not glioblastoma.' He's like, 'It's definitely not glioblastoma, but this is the problem. We don't know what it is.'"

The Road to Surgery

She had a follow-up call with Dr. John Golfinos, a neurosurgeon who explained the next steps. "He was like, 'We got to do brain surgery. We got to take this tumor out of you. Why do we have to do this? Because we don't know what it is. We won't know what it is until we biopsy it. Well, why can't we just biopsy it? Because there's no way to stick a needle through your skull, into your brain, and get a biopsy of a tumor that's inside your brain without cutting open your skull. At that point, why wouldn't we just take the entire tumor out?'" Philipps says.

Philipps had surgery on March 2. Golfinos removed the tumor, which was then biopsied and revealed to be a grade 2 oligodendroglioma, a rare tumor defined by two genetic alterations, according to Dr. Alexandra Miller, Philipps's neuro-oncologist at NYU Langone. Because the tumor was caught early and removed, Philipps does not need chemotherapy or radiation. "There's no other treatment necessary," says Philipps, who will still get scans every three months for the next two years to monitor for a potential recurrence. "I'm kinda like good to go." After two years, doctors will reevaluate how often she needs a scan.

A Sense of Gratitude

Despite the "intense" ordeal, Philipps emphasizes that she's thankful for how everything unfolded. "This time in my life has been so weird. Weird and wonderful in a way. Really enlightening and kind of magical. I don't know the confluence of circumstances and the timing of everything lining up the way that it did in order for everything else to line up the way that it did," she says. "I'm incredibly grateful."

Her openness about the experience has resonated with fans and fellow celebrities alike, many of whom have reached out to share their own stories of health scares and survival. Philipps has used her platform to advocate for proactive health measures, encouraging others to listen to their bodies and seek medical attention when something feels off.

Philipps's story is part of a broader conversation about the importance of early detection and the role of advanced imaging technologies in identifying health issues before they become life-threatening. The full-body Prenuvo scan that detected her tumor is a relatively new technology that is gaining popularity among celebrities and health-conscious individuals alike.

While the scan is not yet widely covered by insurance and can be expensive, it offers a comprehensive view of the body's systems, potentially catching abnormalities that might otherwise go unnoticed. For Philipps, it was a decision that may have saved her life.

As she continues to recover, Philipps is focused on her family, her work, and her health. She has returned to filming Cupertino and is excited about the future. Though the experience has been challenging, it has also given her a new perspective on life and a deeper appreciation for the people and opportunities that have come her way. "I'm grateful for so many things," she says. "I'm grateful for my family, my friends, my doctors, and the fact that I'm still here to tell this story."