Busy Philipps reveals she felt 'divinely protected' by late Dawson Creek's co-star James Van Der Beek during brain tumor surgery

Busy Philipps felt the presence of her late Dawson's Creek co-star James Van Der Beek as she endured her own recent health ordeal involving a rare brain tumor.

The 47-year-old actress told People she felt 'divinely protected' by her friend throughout her diagnosis and subsequent surgeries.

In fact, she’d had a full-body scan just one day after Van Der Beek died on February 11 at age 48, after a years-long battle with colorectal cancer.

Philipps, who revealed the results of her six-month MRI scan earlier this month, had previously lost her best friend, Kate Cooper Serge, in August 2023.

'I thought so much about James, obviously. And I thought so much of my best friend Kate, who passed away three years ago from cancer. The two of them, I felt, were with me the entire time,' Philipps told the outlet.

'The fact that I had no symptoms and I had this scan anyway, and the coincidence of it happening the day after James had passed, was too overwhelming not to acknowledge.'

The MRI revealed she had a Grade 2 oligodendroglioma, a rare, slow-growing brain tumor.

Philipps underwent surgery to have the tumor removed on March 2.

'I felt just honestly very divinely protected by James and Kate,' Philipps said.

Then she had a second procedure in April to treat a staph infection that had developed around the surgical incision site.

As scary as it was, the Cougar Town alum felt Van Der Beek was watching over her every step of the way.

'When I had to go in for my second surgery, in the waiting room, the man next to me was reading the magazine with James and (wife) Kimberley (Van Der Beek)and the kids on the cover. And I was like, "Okay, you're here, okay. It's gonna be fine. I'm gonna be fine,"' she recalled.

Philipps also felt the timing of her casting in the CBS legal drama Cupertino was also connected to Van Der Beek.

She received the phone call offering her the 'dream role' as Natalia Boutella the same night that the actor died.

'I got the call the night he had passed away. It felt such a gift from the universe,' she told People.

Earlier this month, Philipps shared the good news that her latest tests showed 'no sign' of a brain tumor any more.

'I got my six-month scan MRI and… no sign of tumor,' she told fans in an Instagram video posted on September 8.

'However, I do have a sinus infection… which also makes sense because my eye's been red. 

'My left eye, for the past week and if you are somebody who’s followed me for a really long time, you know those sinuses, honey. They have been out to get me since day one.

'I’m going to the sinus doctor tomorrow morning. See what we’ve got to do,' she added.

Nevertheless, the actress, who wore black-framed glasses and whose blonde hair spilled over her shoulders, was delighted with the test results.

She said with a laugh: 'I'll take a sinus infection over a brain tumor any day.'

Van Der Beek revealed his stage 3 colorectal cancer diagnosis in November 2024.

He shared that he had actually been given the dire news earlier in August 2023 after undergoing a colonoscopy, but chose to keep it private for over a year.

Van Der Beek had been married to wife Kimberly since August 2010 after meeting in Israel. In 2020, they traded their home in Beverly Hills for a 36-acre spread just outside Austin, Texas.

They had six children: Olivia, 15; Joshua, 14; Annabel, 12; Emilia, 10; Gwendolyn, eight; and Jeremiah, four.