Busy Philipps Is Ready to Pivot More Than the 'Friends' Couch

From Woman's Day

When Busy Philipps announced her upcoming new podcast Busy Philipps Is Doing Her Best, set to premier on August 17, via Instagram, she wrote in the caption that she's had "so many damn PIVOTS (personally and professionally) that I’m basically the couch from FRIENDS." In a year that's involved an ongoing global pandemic, a seismic civil rights movement, and historic unemployment rates, to say nothing of a relentless news cycle that's nothing if not overwhelming, it's safe to say 2020 has definitely been a year of pivots. And when Philipps caught up with Woman's Day, she got real about all the readjusting.

"I had a lot of work stuff that had been going in a very positive direction that I was excited about that got put on hold," Philipps tells Woman's Day. "The brakes were slammed because obviously the entire world had changed, and I had to take a break and rethink how I was going to proceed and what I was going to do."

Her podcast, which she developed with Cassie St. Onge and Shantira Jackson (who both also worked on her show Busy Tonight, which was canceled by E! in 2019), will be dedicated time in Philipps and co. will "talk about stuff we've been doing and trying to do; and sh*t that we care about, whether it's big like social activism or small like HOW MUCH IS BEN AFFLECK GETTING PAID BY DUNKIN?! And ALSO we're gonna talk to some of our favorite humans," per Philipps' Instagram announcement.

Originally, the podcast was set to focus on different subject matter and had an alternate release date, and much of the show had already been recorded before COVID-19 hit the United States. But the pandemic forced the team to "shift gears," Philipps says. "We just scrapped what we’d already recorded."

And though that might seem like a setback to some, Philipps and her team rolled with the punches. "You’ve got to be willing to make a pivot when things don’t work out the way you think they’re going to," Philipps says. "The thing I kept coming back to is how in these moments when you’re asked to pivot — you’re asked to, or you choose to, or you have to — how if you can really lean into that moment or idea that maybe better things can come out of it, but you have to be willing to be open and not fight it. And I think we’re all collectively in that moment right now."

Listeners who tune into her podcast will hear all about the pivots that Philipps, St. Onge, Jackson, and their friends have had to make, the things they can't stop thinking about, and the issues and causes close to their hearts. "And also pop culture because I can’t talk about anything without asking the hard hitting questions to my friends in pop culture," Philipps laughs. "I'm really excited now, and I think it's gonna be even better than before."

There's a reason Philipps' childhood nickname "Busy" stuck (her full name is Elizabeth Jean "Busy" Philipps, for the uninitiated). After all, she's not one to sit still. The actress, writer, podcast host, mother, and fashion adventurer is known to be, and remains, busy. But the pandemic forced her to slow down and reevaluate some things — a practice we can all learn from.

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