Busy Philipps is partnering with Walgreens to raise money for children in poverty through Red Nose Day. Busy is quarantining with her husband, Marc Silvestri, and her two daughters, Birdie, 11, and Cricket, 6. Like the rest of us, she’s finding staying in the same space with the same people every hour of the day challenging. Christina Garabaldi at Us asked Busy how she and Marc were avoiding getting on each other’s nerves and Busy said they aren’t avoiding it, they’re just working on ways to not let it get the better of them.
Keeping it real. Busy Philipps admitted that quarantining with her husband, Marc Silverstein, has impacted their marriage.
“It’s the worst. I mean, I obviously couldn’t do it without him, but ugh,” the Dawson’s Creek alum, 40, told Us Weekly exclusively while promoting her new Walgreens campaign on Tuesday, May 12.
“Listen, it’s been a process — like everything — but we have been making a point to make sure … that the other one gets time to themselves.”
Philipps continued, “So for Marc, a lot of times he really enjoys sitting outside by himself in the middle of the day, which is great. When he’s out there, I’m like, ‘I’m not texting him, I’m not asking him where the spatula is that he was the last one to use.’ It’s just, like, go outside, sit down, look at your phone, look at Twitter, do whatever you want to do for an hour.”
The former Busy Tonight host, however, also takes time for herself later in the day. “I prefer the evening [or the] afternoon when I know all the kids’ homework, everything is done and they’re just playing or watching TV or doing whatever they’re doing,” she explained. “I go up onto my balcony. I call it balcony time.”
Busy famously discussed the fact that she almost left Marc over the uneven distribution of childcare in their relationship. But Marc promised to do better and they found a system that worked for both of them. So it doesn’t surprise me that Busy acknowledges that quarantine has caused tension, but that they are finding a way not to let the tension win. I like the idea of letting the other person have their space. In my home, we’ve all found our own areas, but we don’t have a time set aside in which the rest of the family leaves us completely alone. I’m thinking about making Time Out signs for our doors that tell the others “I need minute.” I’ve been looking at Busy’s IG posts and wondering why there were so many taken in the same spot outside, but now I see it’s her balcony and probably taken during her balcony time. I’m glad Busy and Marc are making this a process. Like Dr. Major said when asked how to say married after quarantine, the issues we will suffer from are the ones we don’t confront.
As I mentioned above, Busy is promoting her work with Walgreens on Red Nose Day. Red Nose Day is an annual event, of course, but this year it will look different, as everything does, due to the pandemic. Busy and Walmart have come up with a filter that folks can download for a small donation to the fund. The filter will put a red nose on photos on social media, showing support for the cause while maintaining proper social distancing. To get yours, donate here. Or, donate to get one for that housemate that’s annoying you and add it to every account they have, including whatever video conferencing they use. That should be our motto during quarantine: Don’t get mad, get creative!
Photo credit: Instagram and WENN/Avalon
Outside time was very important for us during the 6 – 7 weeks that we were both home lol. Hubs is back to work, but he’d end up going outside every nice day and doing stuff around the yard. He’s a plumber so it’s a physical job, and he felt awful not doing SOMETHING. So it was yard work, trying to build some little balance beam type things for the mountain bike, and stuff like that. Gave us both a break and he was a lot less sulky from boredom lol. I’m working from home, so that also gave me more bandwidth for working haha.
Honestly, other than some arguments early on because we were both anxious and bored, the time really flew by. It feels more like he was home for 3 weeks. I actually miss having him around all the time even though we both enjoy the break.
My husband and I have been working from home together for 7 weeks and we have a tiny apartment. How we’ve made it work I don’t know!
It helps that he is of course my favourite person in the world apart from when he says Yes? every time I cough or clear my throat.
Are you together for a lot of the day or do you give each other space and go into different rooms?
Honey, it’s been a process for us all. I can’t believe I’ve been locked down with my husband for almost 2 months. Holy cow.
Ah, to have a balcony and not a small house. My husband is forever standing in front of whatever cabinet I need to get into.
Birdie, Cricket & a mom named Busy. Those names.
I think her real name is Elizabeth.
I find her daughters name is adorable… for little kid nicknames. Personally I wouldn’t choose to make them their legal names.
I am so glad I live by myself! I can’t imagine being locked in here with another person for weeks on end.
I’ve always liked the name Cricket, because my sister’s middle name means cricket in Finnish (Sirkka). It’s a common name on that side of the family, I have cousins and aunts with the name as well.
Everyday I thankfully get to get out and walk my dog alone… it’s keeping me sane. When my husband starts to get on my nerves I just casually mentioned he should probably play video games for an hour or two.
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Ha, I send my husband up to play video games or watch “his” shows/movies sometimes, too. I really, really NEED some alone time every once in a while, and with two kids and a husband, it can be in short supply. I’m glad they love me so much, but sometimes it feels like if everyone doesn’t stop talking to me/making noise I am going to die. Fortunately, our house is big enough that everyone can have their own space, and we are making it work.
We moved to a bigger house right before lockdown, how blessed I feel every day to go out in to the garden in our huge(to me) backyard. But why are husbands always standing in front of the cabinet you need? My poor husband is bored though, he is not used to not working for this long. He works for a hotel in the Bay Area and it’s not expected to open until July! Busy is right, it’s a day by day process and finding alone time(“mom you have been in the bath tub all evening!”) is important.
Duplicate comment.
We’ve both been working from home; his lawyerin’ and my doing telemed. He also has his music to go off and do, and I have my reading. Glad it’s nice out now so we can also get outside. Surprisingly, the 5 kids we have had quarantining with us (my 2 and three of their friends who were kind of lost in the shuffle when stay at home went down) have been amazingly wonderful. They’re all finishing up their college work and we’re going to lose one in 2 weeks when her parents finish their quarantine after returning from Spain. I’m going to miss her!!
My husband has made the dining room table his office and I am upstairs. Except for me accidentally saying “hey baby” during a couple of his conference calls we are doing pretty well. But man the townhouse feels small sometimes when you don’t leave it for 8 weeks.
he looks camper than a row of tents
They need to just divorce. It’s clear she doesn’t like him and is only there for the kids. She’s co-parenting, she never describes her marriage as great or loving. It always sounds like a sad existence.
I feel like, in talking to friends, this experience has either solidified people’s relationships or made them very shaky. I’m lucky that I fall in the former camp (I love the extra time with my husband and kids for the most part), but the stress of two kids under 10 (including a 2yo!), distance-learning, and both adults working from home is no joke. I need time to exercise at least a little every day and I’m not getting it. But other than that it’s mostly ok.
Like one of the commenters above, I thank my lucky stars that we bought a house last fall and now have plenty of space inside and a big shady yard outside. We’re in the yard every chance we get and that helps.