Busy Philipps Says She's Guilty of Using the Wrong Pronouns for Birdie, Who Came Out at Age 10
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Busy Philipps has always shone as a mom; she has a tremendously big heart and constant valuable words of advice we love to tune into on her podcast Busy Philipps is Doing Her Best. In her latest episode, Philips revealed that her eldest child, Birdie, whom she shares with her husband Marc Silverstein, came out as gay at 10 years old and uses they/them pronouns.
On her podcast, Philipps shared that she and Birdie had a conversation about Birdie’s sexuality when Birdie was 10 years old. “For those of you who are my friends listening at home, this is the first you’re hearing that Birdie is gay and out,” Philipps said. “Birdie told us at 10 years old and…I mean obviously, I knew that Birdie knew.”
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The conversation about Birdie’s pronouns occurred more recently; Philipps explained that she had been avoiding using Birdie’s pronouns in public in an effort to protect her child’s privacy.
Philipps added, “Birdie said that they would like their pronouns to be they/them, and I haven’t been doing it, and I said because I have this public persona, and I want Birdie to be in control of their own narrative and not have to answer to anybody outside of our friends and family if they don’t want to.”
However, Philipps has decided to do so now after getting Birdie’s thoughts on how to make this public. “Bird was like, ‘I don’t give a fuck. You can talk about that I’m gay and out, you can talk about my pronouns. That would be cool with me. That’s great.'”
Philipps also shared that she has asked for Birdie’s permission to discuss their pronouns on her podcast, which she co-hosts with former Busy Tonight writers Shantira Jackson and Caissie St. Onge. The actress recalled, “I said, ‘OK, I can talk about it on the podcast?’ And Birdie was like, ‘Yeah, talk about it on the podcast, Mom.'”
Philipps also admitted that at times she slips up and uses the wrong pronouns with Birdie, but she’s making a real effort to be more consistent. “I’m trying my best at that, too,” she said.
Earlier on the episode, Philipps shared a moment when she found Birdie in her room in the dark lying on the ground and listening to Harry Styles’ “Fine Line” on repeat.
“I had a real flash of myself as a preteen/teenager. So I laid down on the floor as well and I was like, ‘Are you alright? Do you want to talk about anything?'” Philipps said. “And Birdie said, ‘It’s just, I feel like I’m alive but I’m not really living? You know? And I just want the living part to start.’ And I got really emotional because I said, ‘First off, welcome to being my daughter, but I want to say this to you because I wish someone had said this to me. This is living. You can’t wait for it to start.'”
“I said, ‘The other thing I want to tell you that I wish I had known was you get to build your life however the fuck you want to and it doesn’t have to look like anything you’ve ever seen or anything that’s ever been modeled for you because maybe it doesn’t exist,” Philipps said. “You get to choose what will make you feel fulfilled and happy. It doesn’t have to be any of these constructs that we’ve all been fed our entire lives. This is a different world that you get to fucking build.'”
Philipps is clearly doing parenting right, and we’re so happy that Birdie knows they are loved and supported by their parents.
Before you go, click here to see all the celebrities who have talked about being bisexual, sexually fluid, pansexual, or queer.
Launch Gallery: Braunwyn Windham-Burke & Other Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay & Queer Celebrity Parents We Love
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