Before Busy Philipps was an Instagram star with two million followers, she was an actress best known for her role on The WB Network's "Dawson's Creek" and ABC's "Cougar Town." Most recently, she hosted "Busy Tonight" on E!, which aired its last episode in May 2019.
Philipps has described herself as a "pusher" or someone who is always looking for her next job.
"There's no point where I think, 'Oh, now I can just take a break,'" Philipps told Entrepreneur in March 2019. "I'm still pushing and asking myself, 'What's the next thing? How do I move towards that goal? What am I doing next?' So it hasn't gotten easier."
But the author and mother of two recently expressed that she's ready to retire from her 20-plus year career as an actress; only she had a few caveats.
"I've been saying I'm retired from acting which is pretty much true except it's also basically a lie," Philipps wrote in an Instagram caption Monday. "I am now just a CONDITIONS MUST BE PERFECT actor, which means I WILL act but conditions must be perfect."
Broadly speaking, Philipps wrote that she'll only work on projects if they are: run by "someone I love" or "someone I'm a huge FAN of"; filmed in Los Angeles, during summer vacation or only require a few days of travel (she's a mom of two young daughters) and "no assholes" are involved.
However, "in rare instances, a stupid amount of money could cancel out the first 4," Philipps added.
Though Philipps still loves to act "with every fiber of my being," she wrote, "the business of BEING AN ACTOR wears on your heart and soul and it is never ending."
Plus, learning how to say "no" to jobs is also important, Philipps told Grow in November.
"You have to be willing to walk away. And it's very easy for me to say you have to be willing to walk away, because I have that privilege," she said. "I've also been in the position where I can't walk away and you're in a tough spot, and that can be a thing that ends up sort of feeling like it holds you back."
Being able to monetize social media — Philipps says she makes money from posting sponsored Instagram content and "selling stuff" — has allowed her to set her own conditions. ("I'd be stupid not to do paid posts, I think," she told The Guardian in October 2018.)
But becoming a social media star has also "let me figure out how much I love being myself and telling stories that way," she wrote on Instagram.
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Disclosure: NBCUnverisal is the parent company of E! and CNBC.