When Busy Philipps and Joshua Jackson recently shared a kiss in front of a sold-out live audience, it was a nostalgic moment that had Dawson’s Creek fans cheering. Not everyone in the theater necessarily applauded though.
“[My 17-year-old] Birdie was like, ‘OK, Mom, get it,’ but my 12-year-old was like, ‘You didn’t need to kiss him twice,’” Philipps tells Yahoo, laughing.
The reunion brought the actress back together with former costars Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams and Joshua Jackson — who, in many ways, defined her early Hollywood years.
“Those people are like the friends you went to college with — they’re family,” Philipps says. “Michelle and I obviously see each other all the time, but seeing Katie again was really special. We’ve all grown up and built these big, beautiful lives, and yet when we’re in a room together; it’s like no time has passed.”
The night also carried a bittersweet note with the absence of James Van Der Beek, who was diagnosed with stage III colorectal cancer last year and was unable to attend.
“We were really hopeful James would be able to make it, and when he couldn’t, it was devastating,” says Philipps, who was “so happy” to see Van Der Beek’s wife and daughters attending in his place as the evening benefited F Cancer.
Philipps’s daughters, Birdie, 17, and Cricket, 12, may roll their eyes at Dawson’s Creek reruns (“Katie and Michelle and I were joking about it because we all have older daughters, and none of them want to watch anything we’re in” she says.), but for fans who came of age in the late ’90s, seeing the cast together again felt like coming home.
“It’s wild that it still means so much to people,” she says. “That show gave us our start — and it gave people something to hold on to.”
That sense of connection — to her friends, to her past, to herself — is something Philipps has been embracing in every part of her life lately.
At 46, she has settled into a chapter focused on choosing joy. She calls it her “hot mom era,” said with a wink but rooted in something real.
“Something happens around 40,” she says. “It gets real good — and real hot.”
For Philipps, that means feeling comfortable in her body, confident in her voice and unafraid to take up space — whether on a set or on a date or on a dance floor.
It’s also what drew her back to something she hadn’t done in years: Zumba.
Her best friend Michelle Williams was the one who first convinced her to try the dance workout years ago — and Philipps never forgot how good it felt to sweat while having fun. “I need to move my body. I need the endorphins … I gotta get out of my head and into my body,” she says, quoting her therapist.
So when the brand came calling with an empowerment campaign built around confidence and joy through movement, she didn’t hesitate.
That simple joy — unfiltered, sweaty, real — is exactly what she’s trying to hold on to these days. Philipps says her 40s have been about owning who she is — in every sense.
“Being very unapologetically unfiltered has been a real turning point in my career and my life,” she says. “Once I started turning my internal monologues outward, you can’t put it back in the box. And I’m so grateful for that.”
When Yahoo Lists asked Philipps her three favorite things about her 40s, she didn’t hesitate.
Loving my body
I feel so much more connected to my body. I’m not ashamed of any part of myself. I own all of it in a way that I never could before.
Setting boundaries
I feel so much freer as a person to do the things I want to do. Every time I say no, it feels empowering. Every time I recognize my own bandwidth or desires and I’m able to voice [them], it feels very empowering. Like, no. I actually don’t have time for this thing that someone is asking me to do, and I don’t even feel bad about it!
Showing up authentically
I’m single, but I love that like younger guys are like, ‘I’ve never met anyone so smart and interesting and hot.’ And I’m just like, dudes, please. It’s just so funny because I do think it just has to do with that empowered piece, where you just know yourself so well.
I don’t know how younger women can access that without the benefit of time. It’s hard as women, especially in our culture and dealing with everything that we deal with, to get to the point where you feel truly empowered. Owning your own body and your sexuality and your intelligence and not feeling the need to apologize for any of it. I long for younger women and younger generations to be able to access that.