Dawson’s Creek star Busy Philipps diagnosed with rare brain tumour aged 47

Busy Philipps has revealed that she was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour in February.

After getting a full-body MRI, the 47-year-old underwent surgery in early March, just before filming her new show Cupertino.

“I’m grateful that I’m alive,” she told PEOPLE.

“I didn’t know why I wanted to get this scan except for the fact that I just did.”

When Busy lost her friend and Dawson’s Creek co-star, James Van Der Beek, to colon cancer in January, a blizzard in New York City forced her to postpone it several weeks.

However, her ex-husband and close friend, Marc Silverstein, advised her not to put it off any longer.

“He’s like, ‘Maybe it’s the best thing you could do for your friend this morning. Go get that scan,'” Busy said.

Beverly Hills internist Dr Justin Donlan initially told her that he spotted a lesion on her brain and that it should be inspected further.

She explained: “The texts to my ex-husband are comical. While I was on the phone with Dr. Donlan, I texted Marc, ‘OMG I have a brain tumor.’ And he wrote back, ‘Busy, what? What are you saying? What are you talking about?’ I was like, ‘It looks fine. It’s probably benign. I don’t know.’”

After the MRI, Busy was then told: “‘This is a real tumor, and it’s inside your brain. And Busy, it’s got to come out.’

“I was hyperventilating and trying to breathe.”

Busy says her daughter Birdie, 18, 'was kind of beside herself and really, really scared and overwhelmed with emotion'.

“I just kept saying to her, ‘Birdie, you’re just not in the movie where your mom dies your senior year of high school. That’s just not the movie that you’re in. I promise you,’” she added.

More to follow.