Christina Applegate has shared a health update five years after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).
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The Married…with Children star revealed her diagnosis on X in 2021.
"It’s been a strange journey. But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition,” she wrote at the time. “It’s been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going. Unless some a**hole blocks it.”
Highlights
- Christina Applegate shared how multiple sclerosis (MS) limits her daily life.
- The actress was diagnosed with the disease, which causes her significant pain, in 2021.
- She uses humor to cope with MS, even joking at the 2024 Emmys about her condition and the challenges she faces.
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Multiple sclerosis is a disease in which the body's immune cells attack the brain and spinal cord, leading to symptoms including muscle stiffness and problems with walking and talking. Blurring and loss of vision are also common.
Nearly 1 million people in the US are living with MS, and the disease is 2-3 times more common in women, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
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In an interview with People published on Tuesday (February 24), Christina revealed that MS leaves her bedridden for most of her days because it’s too painful for her to move.
Still, she makes an exception and leaves her home to take her 15-year-old daughter, Sadie, whom she shares with her husband, musician Martyn LeNoble, to school.
“I want to take her; it’s my favorite thing to do. It’s the only time we have together by ourselves,” the actress said.
“I tell myself, ‘Just get her there safely and get home so you can get back into bed.’ And that’s what I do.”
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The 54-year-old star told the magazine that her life isn’t “wrapped up with a bow” as many strangers might assume.
“People’s lives, sorry for lack of a better term, f***ing s*ck sometimes. So I’m being as honest and raw as I possibly can.”
Christina was diagnosed with MS while filming the last season of Dead to Me, but revealed that she began experiencing early symptoms while filming season one in 2021.
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The actress noticed tingling in her toes and felt like her legs were giving out on set. A few months later, she was being brought to the set in a wheelchair.
In 2022, Christina went barefoot to receive her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, her first public event since revealing her diagnosis.
“For some with MS, the feeling of shoes may hurt or make us feel off balance. So today I was me. Barefoot,” she wrote on X.
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She also used a cane for support at the event and explained that she can’t “stand for too long.”
The Emmy winner told Vanity Fair in 2023 that she could drive short distances but was unable to do many of the daily activities she had previously taken for granted.
“With the disease of MS, it’s never a good day,” she said. “There are just certain things that people take for granted in their lives that I took for granted. Going down the stairs, carrying things — you can’t do that anymore. It f***ing s*cks.”
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She also said she believed her role in Dead to Me could be her last acting job, though she expressed a desire to remain involved in the entertainment industry, whether as a producer or voice actress.
Since her diagnosis, Christina has used her trademark humor, the quality that turned her into a star, to cope with the disease.
After receiving a standing ovation when she appeared as a special guest at the 2024 Emmy Awards, the Jesse actress quipped, "Thank you so much, oh my God. You're totally shaming me with disability by standing up; it's fine. Body not by Oz*mpic."
Christina uses her signature humor to cope with the condition, which affects one million people in the United States
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When she recalled some of her most famous roles, the audience started to clap in response, to which she said, "We don’t have to applaud every time I do something."
Similarly, in the Super Bowl ad for her online platform, Next in MS, she stated of the condition, "Zero stars. Would not recommend.”
Speaking on the Armchair Expert podcast in 2024, Christina revealed she has 30 lesions on her brain that cause discomfort in her eye and said she sometimes experiences a “seizure-y” feeling in her brain.
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"This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me," said the Anchorman star. “I hate it so much. I'm so mad about it."
To support her mental health amid her battle with the autoimmune disease, Christina began seeing a therapist, which she admitted “was a big thing for me to do.”
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The actress will release a memoir, titled You With the Sad Eyes, in which she opens up about her teen fame, toxic relationships, her mother’s substance dependency, and her experiences with breast cancer and MS.
“I think I had kind of the worst situation from 3 to 7, but there was stuff like that going on in all our homes,” she told People.
“Single moms, men coming in and out, dr*gs. It’s always fun to see your mom crying on the floor and you not being taken care of.”
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Her mother is Bewitched actress Nancy Priddy. As Christina recounts, Nancy had a boyfriend who was violent toward both of them.
When she was a teenager, Christina also became involved with violent men, whom she described as “broken birds that I wanted to fix.”
The California native said her memoir, scheduled for release on March 3, is not an “inspirational book, but it can inspire.”
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