Busy Philipps talks LGBTQ+ parenting, praises Sophia Bush coming out

Ayush May 31, 2024

Busy Philipps, like most parents, wants happy, healthy, children. So when her daughter Birdie, 15, came out and decided to use they/them pronouns (though has since switched back to she/her), Philipps didn’t miss a beat.

“I love and trust my child,” the 44-year-old “Girls 5Eva” actress and late night talk show host said on a recent Zoom call ahead of Pride Month. “And so when my child tells me a thing about themselves, how wonderful that I have information that I didn’t have before, and what other job do I have but to support that?”

Research shows a parent’s support is critical for teens in these situations. More than one-third of LGBTQ+ young people who hoped for mental health care but ultimately never got it didn’t want to ask for their parent or caregiver’s permission, according to The Trevor Project’s 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People.

But Philipps has taken her daughter’s lead when it comes to the LGBTQ+ experience: “If your child is telling you that they identify in a way, how can you not support them?”

‘Your kids are figuring out who they are’

Philipps suggests parents center their child’s experience, not their own, when it comes to discovering where they may fit on the LGBTQ+ spectrum.

Parents should also practice self-awareness. Just because you consider yourself a “liberal person,” for example, doesn’t make you immune to biases.

She has little patience for those unsupportive. “You love (your kids), you want them to be the best version of themselves, and they’re telling you how they feel they’re going to be the best version of themselves,” she says. “And whether or not you think it’s forever or it’s for the time being doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter what you think. Your kids are figuring out who they are. And thank goodness they have the freedom and the language for it, when so many of my peers didn’t.”

Coming out isn’t actually over.Here’s why.

Busy Philipps praises pal Sophia Bush coming out: ‘I love her dearly’

She shouted out pal Sophia Bush, who came out as queer in an essay for Glamour earlier this year. Bush wrote: “I’ve experienced so much safety, respect, and love in the queer community, as an ally all of my life, that, as I came into myself, I already felt it was my home. I think I’ve always known that my sexuality exists on a spectrum,” and added, “I think the word that best defines it is queer. I can’t say it without smiling, actually. And that feels pretty great.” Bush has since gone red carpet-official with retired soccer star Ashlyn Harris (and clarified over the weekend that no, she’s not engaged).

Philipps called the piece “incredibly beautiful.” “I’m so proud of my friend,” she adds. “I love her dearly, and more of that, more being open to that we don’t know all the answers about everything, even our children that we think we know everything about. You don’t. We don’t.”