Busy Philipps on Supporting Her Gay Child Who Uses They/Them

The actress recently said that she "won" because her "out kid" Birdie is in her life.

Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.

Read Full Bio

Tracy E. Gilchrist

January 04 2021 2:30 PM EST

May 31 2023 5:20 PM EST

Sorry to interrupt...
But we wanted to take a moment to thank you for reading. Your support makes original LGBTQ+ reporting possible. Help us hold Trump accountable.

One-time Monthly

$19.67 $50 Other

$5 $19.67 $50

Actress Busy Philipps has written in an Instagram post that she feels like she "won" because of her 12-year-old child, Birdie, who is gay and uses they/them pronouns.

"I feel like I won all of it because OH MY GOD I get to know this person and THAT is the magic of being a parent," Philipps wrote in a post last month with a picture of Birdie in a blue suit Philipps bought them for Christmas.

See on Instagram

On her podcast Busy Philipps Is Doing Her Best last week, Philipps said that Birdie is her "out kid" and shared their pronouns. The LGBTQ+ ally and star of shows including Dawson's Creek, ER, and Cougar Town, said that she'd been referring to Birdie with the wrong pronouns, which led to an "intense conversation."

"I said, 'You know, Bird, I've been doing a bad job with the pronouns,' because Birdie said that they would like their pronouns to be they/them and I haven't been doing it, 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," Philipps said on the podcast. "And then Bird was like ... '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.'"