Forget Joey and Pacey, and Joey and Dawson, because Williams and Phillipps were the true love story of Dawson’s Creek. The actresses became close when Philipps joined the WB series in 2001.
“Someone had said, ‘when you two meet, there’s going to be a chemical reaction,'” Williams recalled in a 2018 interview with People. “I had been very excited for this girl to land in Wilmington. We became inseparable and I fell in love with her.”
And their time working together on the series was formative.
“My memory of being with her then has nothing to do with the show or the work, but it was on our time off,” Philipps shared Entertainment Weekly. “It was talking on the porch all night and that was back when bread was still okay to eat. There was a lot of bread. That’s what I remember: an endless conversation over several baskets of bread.”
In the years since Dawson’s Creek ended in 2003, they have remained one of Hollywood’s closest friends, and it was Philipps who rushed to Williams’ row in Brooklyn after his former partner Heath Ledger was found dead in his apartment from an accidental overdose in 2008.
“I recently told her, ‘You’ve really saved me from ever being alone because you’re always there,'” Williams added People in 2018. “We are so close and can tell each other everything. I don’t know what I would be or who I would be without Busy.”
Philipps, who is godmother to Matlida Ledgerwas Williams’ favorite award show date for years, with each experience reminding the duo of how far they’ve come.
“I think for her, and for me as well, to have each other by our side as we go through this process, and when she’s been nominated, or on other red carpets that we’ve done together, or events, it’s just great to have someone who can be your touchstone for reality,” Philipps explained to Ella. “Maybe I’m giving away a secret, but we always try right before we get to one of these red carpets to just look at each other and say, ‘Don’t forget how lucky we are. This is our life now.”
