Christina Applegate was diagnosed with MS in 2021. Credit: Kevin Winter / Getty
In 2021, Dead to Me star Christina Applegate was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), a lifelong autoimmune disease that disrupts the brain’s ability to communicate with the rest of the body.
MS can cause serious symptoms like constant numbness, vision problems, and even paralysis.
Now 53, Applegate says the disease has taken over her daily life. In a recent episode of the Making Space podcast with Hoda Kotb, she gave a raw and emotional update, calling her experience a “nightmare.”
“This disease defines me right now,” she said. “I’ve been dealing with it for three and a half years. Some days, I can’t even walk to the bathroom.”
The Emmy-winning actress didn’t hide how emotionally painful it is to live with MS.
“I’m still angry about it. A lot of us who were recently diagnosed aren’t ready to accept this new reality,” she said. “I keep hoping I’ll wake up and this nightmare will be over.”
She also admitted she feels like her condition is getting worse. “I want to do things, but I physically can’t. It feels like I’m declining, and that’s hard to face.”
Still, Applegate is holding on to hope. “There’s a little voice inside me saying, ‘You have to believe in a miracle. You have to believe there’s something better on the other side of this.’”
On the podcast episode, Married… with Children star Christina Applegate was joined by her MeSsy co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who has been living with multiple sclerosis for over 20 years.
Even though they share the same disease, Applegate admitted she doesn’t always feel strong or inspiring. “I feel like I’m not very inspiring,” she said.
She added, “If someone hears me and thinks, ‘Oh my God, I feel the same way, and I’m not handling this right’—there’s no right way to live with MS.”
Sigler immediately agreed, saying, “No, there’s not.”
Applegate also opened up about how even simple daily tasks completely drain her.
She described a recent visit to the dentist as an exhausting ordeal.
“I went to the dentist yesterday for a 30-minute appointment, and it felt like the worst hour and a half of my life,” she said. “Just getting down the stairs, into the car, through the parking lot, the elevator, and into the office—it all wore me out.”
“By the time I got home, I couldn’t move anymore,” she continued. “And that’s what makes it so hard for me to accept this. I’m still angry.”
Sigler shared that she had many of the same emotions when she was first diagnosed but didn’t feel comfortable expressing them at the time.
“I didn’t think I was allowed to feel that way, or didn’t think I deserved to,” Sigler said. “So for Christina to speak so openly about it early on in her journey—I really admire that.”
