Busy Philipps Opens Up About What She's Learned After Her Kid Came Out as Nonbinary

Busy Philipps is reflecting on parenthood.

In a new interview with ET, the actress opened up about what she’s learned since her oldest child, Birdie, came out as queer and started using they/them pronouns.

She had first discussed Birdie coming out in an episode of her podcast earlier this year.

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“Birdie had discussed it with me. They had come to me and were like, ‘You can talk about me, my queerness, and my pronouns on your podcast,’” Busy told the outlet. “I was like, ‘Well, are you sure? Let’s discuss it.’”

After talking on how valuable she’s found it to share her personal stories publicly, she and Birdie decided to be open about their identity.

“They’re kind of always unfazed by everything, in terms of how people have responded,” she said. “It was hard for me in terms of knowing that there would be people that would be unkind to my child. I felt like I was putting my kid out there, and putting them at risk of getting some of that negativity toward who they are as a person.”

But after they went public with the news, Birdie told their mom, “Mom, you thought everybody was going to be real nice about it? No, this is the world we live in… I’m so glad you did it because… I don’t have to explain myself over and over again to people. You did me a favor.”

“I have gotten so many horrible, horrible DMs… but who cares?” Busy said. “As Birdie says, what was I expecting?”

“I have gotten so many messages and letters in the last year of… moms just thanking me for talking about it, talking about my child’s queerness and their choice of pronouns,” the actress continued, “because they’re also having the same thing, but they live in a small town in the middle of the country, and this helps them be able to have the conversation easier.”

“I think it’s a part of our culture, sharing things on social media,” Busy added. “You cannot ever predict how they’re going to be received, but you just have to know that when you’re moving through the world in a truthful way, [some] people will respond to it in a positive way, and some people won’t, but that’s their issue to work out.”

Earlier this year, it was announced that Birdie had scored their first acting role. Find out more here!