The 38-year-old actress lost it after leaving her child's two bears at a hotel room.
Earlier this week,Busy Philipps dropped an emotionally epic, multi-part Instagram saga about her self-described "total parental fail" on a family vacation.
The saga began on Easter when Philipps, her husband, Marc Silverstein, and their children, Birdie, 9, and Cricket, 4, had packed up all their stuff and left their hotel for their final destination. But upon arriving home and unpacking, the Freaks and Geeks star -- and, more recently, Drunk History actress -- made a horrible discovery.
"Guys, I ended our wonderful family vacation with a total parental fail," Philipps said through tears in her Instagram Story. "Birdie's favorite, bear, Radar, and her other bear, Flat Bear, were left."
Philipps, who was recently hospitalized briefly after sunburning her eyes, was devastated by the oversight. She blamed the chaos of packing everything up and suspected that the wayward bears had gotten somehow tangled up in the hotel sheets and went off to the cleaners.
But most of all, she blamed herself. "But it doesn't make anything better that of course, like, all of Cricket's animals made it back," she said with heavy sobs. "I just feel like such an a**hole."
Still, Philipps suggested some perspective on it all. "I know it's just a mistake and these things happen," she said. "But it's like, you know, f**k, it's like the worst when you're a parent and it's like your responsibility to keep everything straight and... She just was so heartbroken."
But there's a twist to this story. If Philipps seemed unusually distraught over the possible loss of the bears, there was a good reason for it.
"Also, um," she began. "Radar was my bear when I was a kid. And Birdie just wrote a whole thing in English class about how it was her most prized possession, because it had been mine."
After that, the Instagram Story cut to a brief interlude of her working out, the next morning.
And then, finally, an update, accompanied by the caption "Prayers up for the bears" and "???."
"OK, I have a bear update," she said as she left the gym. "I called the hotel. No word yet. They haven't heard back from the laundry facility. They're hopeful that they'll have some news today."
Philipps added that even though she had left the hotel, she had friends who had remained behind who might have a part to play in all this.
"So, I'll just, like, send them on over to the front desk and just rage until those bears are located," she shared. "And by rage, I mean, like, offer them $200 to find the bears."
Her final segment showed her at the nail salon, finding peace in pampering and the calming tunes of Sufjan Stevens. But beneath that peace?
Unresolved business.
"Bear drama's not over," she said. "I'm calling my friends."
Monday afternoon, she provided another update. Her friends indeed were called.
"I feel like it's like The First 48," she remarked, referring to the gripping homicide documentaries. "Like, if we don't find the bears in the first 48 hours, we're f**ked."
But, some good news.
"The manager is on it," she revealed.
Finally on Tuesday, the actress announced that Radar had been found but Flat Bear was still at large.
"***UPDATE! RADAR HAS BEEN LOCATED!!!!!!!!!" she exclaimed in an Instagram caption. Still missing flat bear but now I feel like maybe that bear will turn up!********OK guys. I scoured my photos and found a pic of FLAT BEAR AND RADAR. If you are in HAWAII on the Big Island, specifically at the FOUR SEASONS HUALALAI OR if you know someone who works at the United Laundry Facility in Kona keep your eyes open for two very important and missed bears!"
For more Philipps parenting hijinx, watch the video below.
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