Michelle Williams and Busy Philipps are an odd couple, yes? I don’t know them personally, obviously, but Michelle comes across as the quiet introvert who reads poetry, whereas Busy is the loud extrovert who reads People. Both are valid! You just kind of wonder what sparked the connection. Oh wait, I think I can start to answer my own question: they both share a tough, hustler core, from starting their respective showbiz careers as teenagers. Michelle often gets painted with a delicate persona, but she did legally emancipate herself at 15 in order to get more acting work. That takes some grit! Anyway, Busy is out promoting a new collaboration — with California Pizza Kitchen, where she worked as a teen before being cast in Freaks and Geeks — and she took a moment to wax poetic on the blessing of having a friend who’s been through thick and thin with her for 25 years:
“We just know each other and get each other in such a deep, fundamental way at this point,” the “Girls5eva” star tells Page Six exclusively in a new interview.
Philipps notes that the pair have grown up together and “been there through so many different moments in each other’s lives,” from the “really wonderful ones” to those they thought they “might never, ever recover from.”
She adds, “When you have a friend like that, you’re blessed. That’s all you can really ever hope for in this life.”
Philipps, 45, and Williams, 44, met as co-stars on the sudsy ‘90s and ‘00s teen drama “Dawson’s Creek” and have been BFFs ever since.
In fact, the “Cougar Town” star is often the Oscar nominee’s plus-one at industry events.
“It makes it fun,” Williams told us at the 2022 Gotham awards.
“These things can be a little … I don’t know if you ever really get used to being on a red carpet. It’s a little overwhelming, but then all of a sudden, I look over and see this gal, and I know whatever happens, we’re going to have a great time and laugh.”
Long before the duo were regular fixtures at Hollywood events, though, Philipps worked as a hostess at California Pizza Kitchen from the age of 15 until she landed her starring role in “Freaks and Geeks.”
The former “Busy Tonight” host swears she never grew tired of scarfing down the chain’s food — not even while flying to the “Dawson’s Creek” set in North Carolina.
“There was a CPK in the airport in Charlotte, and I would get my BBQ chicken pizza and eat it there on my layover,” she tells Page Six. “And then I would get two of the Thai crunch salads and take them to Wilmington, and me and Michelle would eat it for lunch the next day.”
And so, Philipps freaked out when she got a call about teaming up with CPK again in honor of its 40th anniversary this year.
“The ad agency couldn’t believe that I knew the names of the CPK founders off the top of my head,” she shares with a laugh. “I was like, ‘Guys, I worked here for years!’”
I gotta say, I was sorry E! gave up on Busy Tonight so fast. I think Busy is so well-suited to being an entertainment talk show host; she’s worked in the industry, knows how to laugh at herself and make others in the conversation comfortable, and she’s not afraid to dig into big topics. Also? Still knowing the founders’ names for CPK (or as we call the chain in my family, CaPiKi) 30 years later is crazy! As for her friendship with Michelle, they really have been through everything together. Marriages, babies, divorces, deaths, and attending Academy Awards. (Though Busy did get booted for Michelle’s recent nomination in 2023, when Michelle went with her husband instead.) For her part, Michelle should have ample opportunity to return the friend love to Busy, as she’s ramping up promotion for her new FX series, Dying For Sex, that comes out on Friday. I’m coming up on 20 years of friendship with my bestie, and yeah, there is no intimacy quite like it. Of course we’ve had plenty of fights, along with a few bouts of not speaking, but he’s still the first person I want to do things with, and he makes me laugh harder than anyone else. I’ve come to believe that finding your match in humor is really important.
Photos credit: Sara De Boer/startraksphoto.com, BauerGriffin/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images, David Acosta/Image Press Agency/Image Press Agency/Avalon, jpistudios.com/JPI Studios/Avalon