Busy Philipps recalls the scary incident when her 15-year-old daughter Birdie suffered a seizure while in Sweden for boarding school, with her parents only able to watch via Facetime from half a world away.
One of the scariest experiences you can have as a parent is knowing your child is in need and feeling completely helpless. For all that modern technology can put you right there, for Busy Philipps it also showed her just how far away she was.
The Girls5Eva star talked about a “terrifying” incident that occurred while she was half a world away from her daughter, and she could only watch it through Facetime. It was in many ways a blessing, but only exacerbated that feeling of helplessness.
Talking about it on the latest episode of her podcast Busy Philipps Is Doing Her Best, the Cougar Town alum said that it all went down while her 15-year-old daughter with estranged husband Marc Silverstein was in Sweden for school.
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“I heard Marc screaming for me and I was like, ‘What does this f–king guy want now?’ And I went upstairs.” Philipps recalled. “but then I heard his voice and I knew something was really wrong. And he just said, ‘It’s Birdie, it’s Birdie. She’s had another seizure.”
According to Philipps, their daughter Birdie had been with friends at a movie when she “started choking and throwing up.” Luckily, another person at the theater called emergency services, while Birdie’s friend called her parents.
That meant Philipps and Silverstein were able to watch via Facetime as paramedics treated Birdie on the scene. “You could see everything that was happening,” she said. “It was just so weird.”
While it would make one feel more disconnected than ever, it also must have been at least somewhat comforting to know exactly what was being done to care for their daughter as it was happening. Philipps was also thankful the theater was just “two minutes from the children’s hospital.”
One moment that stood out for her and made that divide feel infinite was when Philipps could see her daughter reaching toward the camera and calling for her, “Mama. Mama. Mama. Where are you? Mama.”
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“I was literally Googling private planes,” said the Dawson’s Creek alum. “I was like, ‘How do I not know anyone with a f–king private plane. I got to hang out with fancier people. Would Taylor Swift fly me to Sweden right now? Who knows Taylor Swift?'”
Philipps shared that Birdie had previously suffered one while she was working on the upcoming Mean Girls musical adaptation. She was unable to attend to her daughter then, either, but luckily Silverstein was able to be there.
The good news is that Philipps was able to reconnect with her daughter, who was clearly in good spirits and recovering in an video Philipps shared as part of a slideshow to her Instagram.
In one pic, the tired mama can be seen near her daughter’s hospital bed, but in the very next one, a rambling Birdie tries to tell her story but keeps getting in her own way. At least everyone is laughing and looking well.
“Birdie is fine. I am fine. We are all going to be OK,” Philipps captioned her post in part. “But it’s been a time. And a year.”
