Actress Busy Philipps has recalled the scary moment her teenaged daughter suffered a seizure — with the mother having to watch helplessly on FaceTime.
Her 15-year-old daughter Birdie, who attends boarding school in Sweden, was at a movie in Stockholm when she “started choking and throwing up”.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Busy Philipps’ 15-year-old daughter suffers a seizure.
Stream the world’s best reality, entertainment and true crime shows for free on 7Bravo on 7plus >>
A 17-year-old friend helped Birdie find medical assistance and FaceTimed Birdie’s parents in the US.
The former Dawson’s Creek actress says she was powerless as she watched the “terrifying” incident unfold over the video call.
Philipps shares Birdie with ex-husband Marc Silverstein. The couple split in 2021.
She has recalled on her podcast Busy Philipps Is Doing Her Best that on the day of the incident, the timeframe of which she does not specify, she had heard Silverstein “screaming” for her.
“I was like, ‘What does this guy want now?’” she said.
“And I went upstairs 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’.
“The paramedics (in Sweden) are on the phone. The paramedics were on FaceTime and she had just come out of the seizure and she was still in the post-aura state.
“They were like, hooking her up with stuff and (I watched it all) on FaceTime.”
Birdie’s friend Sarah, who was holding the phone, was giving Philips this “weird medium shot” where the mother “could see everything that was happening”.
“So it felt, it was just so weird.”
She described her daughter “reaching toward the camera” and “calling out” for her mother in the US.
An upset Philipps described her daughter as yelling out, “Mama. Mama. Mama. Where are you? Mama”.
The mother shared that, earlier that day, Birdie and Sarah had gone to see a movie at the local Stockholm cinema.
She praised Sarah for being such a help to her daughter during the scary incident.
“Birdie’s friend Sarah, shout out Sarah, literally, I don’t even understand,” she said.
“She’s 17, but this girl managed to get one person to go tell the theatre, to shut it down, she got two guys that they obviously didn’t know, that were sitting behind, because Birdie started choking and throwing up, to move Birdie gently to the ground and put her on her side.
“She got someone else to call the Swedish 911.”
Birdie went on to spend a night in a hospital in Stockholm with Sarah by her side, as her parents and sister Cricket, 11, flew from New York to visit her.
Following the incident, Birdie was taken back home to the US.
Philipps did not mention when the incident occurred and has not specified if her daughter will return to the Swedish boarding school.
She says although her daughter is now okay, she has been struggling with coming to terms with the incident, explaining that it feels like she is “stuck in a movie”.
“My therapist yesterday said, she was like, “You sound like you’re disassociating,” she said on the podcast.
“And I understand because I feel like this year has, I don’t understand what’s happening.”
“It was really awful seeing it on a screen, being in a different country across an ocean.”
For more engaging entertainment content, visit 7Life on Facebook.
