Busy Philipps Got a Show and a Brain Tumor Diagnosis on the Same Day

Busy Philipps learned she had a brain tumor hours after learning CBS wanted her for "Cupertino." Same morning. Two phone calls. She told the story on NPR's interview podcast Wild Card, where guests draw cards from a deck and answer big questions about their lives.

The actor appeared on the show, hosted by Rachel Martin, to discuss filming the new CBS drama while treating the tumor. NPR host Mary Louise Kelly set the scene: Philipps had auditioned for "Cupertino," then received two calls that, as Kelly put it, can give you whiplash.

Philipps recounted it verbatim: "I found out in the morning that 'Cupertino' was happening. They were all so excited about me joining the cast. And a few hours later, Dr. Davinski called me from NYU and was like, you have a real brain tumor, and it's got to come out of your head."

Her response was, characteristically, logistical. "And I was like, OK, but I'm starting a new TV show," she said, "so I don't know if this is going to work for me."

What else did Philipps discuss?

A card prompted a bigger question: what's something you love that you discovered later in life? Philipps's answer was one word. "Sex."

She explained the answer plainly. "I think I had been raped, and I'm a woman of a certain age," she said. "I just was brought up in an era where, like, our pleasure was not a thing that we were sort of encouraged to even explore."

Martin noted that Philipps was raped at 14, and that such an act would "shift, obviously, everything for you." Philipps agreed. "It took a long time for me," she said — longer, she added, than she wishes it had, calling herself "bummed" about the timing.

The reason for the timing complaint is biological. Philipps, now in perimenopause (the transitional stage before menopause), feels the clock. "I'm here, like, in this precipice of menopause," she said. "I read 'All Fours.' I don't want to fall off the cliff. I feel the cliff. I don't want to fall off the cliff. That's a bummer."

"All Fours" is Miranda July's 2024 novel, a touchstone for midlife female desire, and Philipps invoked it as a warning rather than a manual. Her hope, she said, comes from an unexpected quarter: "But now Halle Berry is giving me hope."

Martin approved. "Thank God, Halle Berry," Philipps repeated, by way of summary.

NPR notes that the full conversation touches on sex and child sexual assault.

Where can you watch?

"Cupertino" is out now on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. Rachel Martin's full conversation with Busy Philipps is available on YouTube — search "NPR Wild Card."

Philipps, of course, is not new to public candor; her memoir and her late-night talk show built a career on it. The difference now is the material: a tumor, a network drama, and a frankness about pleasure that her own generation was never taught to practice.