Busy Philipps is busy these days. The mom of two and the host of the new E! late night talk show Busy Tonight sat down with Us Weekly yesterday to talk about how she has learned to co-parent peacefully with her husband Marc Silverstein.
“I think the key to co-parenting with anyone, whether you’re in the same house or separate houses, is being able to tap out if you need to or if you can’t figure out how to effectively parent on a scenario. That’s what we’ve just learned over the last 10 years,” the Dawson’s Creek alum told Us Weekly.
Philipps, whose first major role was in the cult-classic TV show Freaks and Geeks, has been married to I Feel Pretty screenwriter Marc Silverstein since 2007. They have two children, Birdie, 10, and Cricket, 5. But parenthood didn’t come easy to the Hollywood couple.
“Marc and I had a really rough time after Birdie was born. He was not understanding how to be a dad and, in fact, didn’t try. I was parenting by myself,” Philipps told Parents Magazine of their struggles.
Philipps revealed in her memoir This Will Only Hurt A Little — which hit the bookshelves in October — that she even considered leaving Silverstein after getting close to another man in her friend group.
“There was a man I was friends with, another dad. We’d been having lunch and stuff. Texting. Talking on the phone a lot. Honestly, I had a crush on him. I like him. Maybe I even loved him? He clearly liked me too,” People Magazine reported.
At one point, Philipps even asked Silverstein for a divorce. But through the help of a therapist and her long time best friend Michelle Williams (another Dawson’s Creek alum), Philipps and Silverstein were able to work through their marital issues and become a strong, united front for their daughters. Philipps recalled her conversations with Williams about her possible infidelity in her memoir.
“It would be really awful for two years and then you would find a new normal but honestly, if you can keep your family intact, I think you should do it,” Williams told Philipps, per People .
Both Philipps and Silverstein attended therapy together, and now have a strong bond and they are able to co-parent their girls successfully. The key, she says, is being able to communicate with your partner when you need advice on the tough stuff.
“You have to be able to, you know, look to the other person and say, ‘I really don’t know what to do here. What do we do?” Philipps shared with Us.