A rocky road. Busy Philipps has always been unflinchingly honest about her marriage to Marc Silverstein — especially when she revealed that they separated after nearly 15 years of marriage.
“It’s been a really long time that Marc and I have been separated, and our kids know, our families know, our friends know,” the Girls5Eva star confirmed on her podcast, “Busy Philipps Is Doing Her Best,” in May 2022. “And we really discussed, like, how do I handle it sort of publicly. Because when we first separated, it was, like, February of last year.”
She continued: “But the truth is … there’s, like, a conventional idea of what a person in the public eye is supposed to do when their relationship ends, and it’s been very well established, right? … You make a statement, you’re committed to remaining friends, ‘please respect our privacy and our family’s privacy in this time,’ right? But the truth is, ‘Who made that rule up, that that’s how you do it?’ I’m serious.”
Explaining that she and the screenwriter needed to do what was best for them and their family, Philipps decided to wait and “figure out” their feelings on the situation before saying anything. “It’s been a journey. … The surest way that Marc and I have been able to ensure the privacy of our kids that we love so f–king much was by not involving the public.”
The Freaks and Geeks alum tied the knot with Silverstein in a surprise ceremony in June 2007 in Mexico. They welcomed their first child, Birdie Leigh, one year later and Philipps gave birth to daughter Cricket Pearl in July 2013.
“He was not understanding how to be a dad and, in fact, didn’t try,” Philipps said of the Vow screenwriter in a November 2018 interview with Parents, revealing that taking on parenting responsibilities by herself took a toll on their marriage. “When I told him I wanted to have a second child, he said, ‘Fine, but it’s all on you.’ That was so heartbreaking. [I] went to Marc several times and said, ‘I cannot do this anymore. Something has to change, and it’s you.’”
The Cougar Town alum continued: “We’ve had a lot of serious discussions and counseling, and he’s incredibly participatory now in a way I don’t think he could’ve imagined before. We’re a work in progress but trying our best, and that’s the most you can do.”
In her 2018 memoir, This Will Only Hurt a Little, Philipps confessed that she and Silverstein had almost called it quits three years after Cricket’s birth. “There was a disconnect [between us],” she wrote in the book. “He didn’t let me talk when we were out with friends. Or worse, when it was just us, he didn’t speak to me at all. I’d started to do a test when we were alone in the car together, where I wouldn’t say anything until he did, just to see how long it would take him to talk to me.”
“Some days we rode the whole way in silence,” she added. “All those years of feeling so alone had started to add up. I’d just assumed that was what marriage was: two people being mildly miserable next to one another.”
Keep scrolling to relive Philipps and Silverstein’s relationship timeline: