Busy Philipps is proud of eldest daughter Birdie’s “whole journey” at boarding school in Sweden.
“We have a really tight relationship and she’s very much like her mother in all kinds of ways and she’s super expressive, so it’s not as much of a typical teenager,” Philipps, 44, exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, May 1, while discussing Mental Health Awareness Month. “She’s been in boarding school this year abroad [and] it’s a whole journey. It was not my choice [for her to go]. I mean, it was her choice, but I mean, I encouraged her to [spread her wings].”
She added, “I think it’s really great for her to experience another culture and also it has freed our relationship up to being more about the fun things and less about ‘Clean your room,’ ‘Do your laundry,’ ‘Get out of bed’ [and] ‘Eat your vegetables.’ Now there’s someone else that’s doing that and so I just get kind of the fun stuff.”
Philipps shares Birdie, 16, with ex-husband Marc Silverstein, alongside youngest daughter Cricket, 10. In the midst of Birdie’s high school tenure, she enrolled at an institution located in Sweden. While Philipps is able to see Birdie “every day” via FaceTime, she does miss being able to “hold her” daughter.
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“She got really sick in the winter and not being there was really difficult,” Philipps told Us, referring to Birdie’s recent seizure that led to an epilepsy diagnosis. “So that all has been challenging. But also, I really am so proud of her and the person that she wants [to be]. She’s very independent like her mother. [And] especially given the pandemic and the last few years and what these kids have kind of experienced, they’ve spent enough time with their parents, [and] are like, ‘Can I be around some kids, please?’”
Birdie Silverstein and Busy Philipps. Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
While Birdie is now thriving at her boarding school — and “doing really well” healthwise — Cricket continues to live at home in the United States with Philipps.
“Cricket is her own person with her own really unique interests and we’ll see what it all looks like for Cricket,” the Girls5Eva star said of her youngest daughter. Philipps also defended her decision to not frequently share updates of Cricket on social media. “I am more reticent to [post] about Cricket just because it’s not her thing. And so, I just really respect that. She’s like, ‘Let me be my own person,’ and I get it. I love that for her.”
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In addition to coparenting her daughters with Silverstein, Philipps is prioritizing her own mental health and learning to adjust to her ADHD diagnosis.
“I mean, [my diagnosis has] changed everything,” she told Us. “My executive function skills have improved so greatly. I’m also so much more aware and able to prioritize because I think that’s a big piece of it too, that when everything feels sort of mixed up, it’s hard to know how to prioritize things in your brain.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
