‘Not even kidding’: Busy Phillips shares doctor’s four-word response after undergoing surgery for rare brain tumour
Updated . First published
Busy Phillips has some great news to share with fans, six months after undergoing life-saving surgery to remove a rare brain tumour.
The actress, 47, said this week that her doctor candidly told her “your scan was clean” before thwarting into a conversation about her new TV show Cupertino.
Busy Philipps has given a positive update after a recent health battle. Pictured at the Cupertino Season 1 premiere event on September 30, 2026. Getty
Speaking at the show’s New York premiere on Wednesday, Phillips told People: “I chatted with my oncologist today.
“She was like, ‘Really just wanted to talk about Cupertino.’ I’m not even kidding you. She’s like, ‘Your scan was clean. So when’s the show come out? Is it this week or next week?’”
She continued, “I was like, ‘The premiere is tonight.’ She’s like, ‘Amazing.’ Anyway, so yeah, she’s been on the whole journey with me.”
In September, Phillips shared she had undergone her six-month MRI following surgery to remove the tumour earlier this year.
“Guys, I got my six-month scan, MRI, and it was no sign of the tumour,” she said in a video shared on Instagram.
In her video she explained that while there were “no signs of tumour progression” the MRI did uncover a different health concern.
“...I do have a sinus infection in my left sphenoid sinus, which also makes sense because my eye has been red, my left eye, for the past week, and if you are somebody who has followed me for a really long time, you know those sinuses, honey, they have been out to get me since day one!” she continued.
Philipps explained she was “going to the sinus doctor tomorrow morning to see what we gotta do”.
The actress added that she underwent surgery on her sinus in 2018, and she may need to do an “anti-inflammation cleanse again”.
Philipps recently underwent a six-month MRI after surgery to remove a rare brain tumour. Instagram/@busyphilipps
“But yeah, this is not great. It’s painful, it looks painful, and it is painful. I thought it was eczema,” she continued.
“I don’t know what the hell is going on… But no tumour, so I guess I’ll take a sinus infection over a brain tumour, any day!”
In August Philipps revealed that she had undergone two surgeries after doctors found a rare brain tumour in February following a full-body MRI.
Philipps told People she was “hyperventilating and trying to breathe” when she got the news that there was a tumour.
She recalled feeling “really scared” to have the hard talk with her daughters, Birdie, 17, and Cricket, 13, who she shares with her ex-husband.
Busy Phillips as Mrs George in Mean Girls 2024 nna\chantelle.bozicevic
She “promised” them their mum wasn’t going to die.
The first surgery was in March and because the scan caught the tumour early, doctors were able to fully remove it and she did not require chemotherapy or radiation.
She did require a second surgery in April, after the incision site got infected.
She will require regular scans to monitor for an unlikely recurrence of the tumour, but so far appears to be in the clear after it was caught early.
