Christina Applegate fought back tears as she opened up about how being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis has left her feeling “really mad” and “angry” and admitted that living with a debilitating disease.
During an exclusive interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America, the 52-year-old actress became emotional as she spoke about ‘living in hell’ with the disease, which affects the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves.
Christina explained how her symptoms started ‘in the early part of 2021’ when she was filming the final season of hit Netflix show Dead To Me and told Robin: ‘It was like literally tingling in my toes and when we started to shoot in the summer of the same year I was brought to put in a wheelchair, I could not walk that far.’
As her eyes filled with tears, Christina’s voice broke as she continued: ‘So I had to tell everyone because I needed help, I needed someone to help me stand and I had needed someone to help me get there and they were wonderful, but I probably had it for many, many years’.
Christina Applegate fought back tears as she opened up about how she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis during an exclusive interview on Good Morning America
The 52-year-old was joined by fellow actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who was diagnosed with MS when she was just 20 years old
Christina, pictured here in January 2023, often walks with a cane as the debilitating disease affects the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves
When Robin, 63, asked her mother how long she thinks she’d had MS before she was diagnosed, the Married… with Children star replied: ‘Probably six or seven years, I think. I noticed that, especially the first season, we would shoot and I would tense up, like my leg would tense up.
“I really just put it off as being tired or ‘I’m dehydrated’ or ‘it’s the weather’ then nothing would happen for months and I wouldn’t pay attention but when it hit so hard I had to pay attention .’
Christina sat down with actress Jamie Lynn Sigler, who was diagnosed with MS 22 years ago, and admitted she’s still in the grieving process as she adjusts to the way her life is now.
“It’s a shame, it’s not my favorite disease,” she said, before joking about her 2008 breast cancer diagnosis: “I’ve had a few. It’s not my favorite! They call it the invisible disease. It can be very lonely, because it’s hard to explain to people… I’m in excruciating pain, but I’m just used to it now.’
Referring to Jamie-Lynn, 42, Christina then said: ‘She keeps me going because I’m the one who’s like… I flip the bird all day long on this and I’m angry, I I’m really , very mad.
‘You know I was a dancer, a runner and all the things I love and a mother. And she’s like, “okay, I’ve got you and you’re going to be okay,” and if not for her, I honestly don’t know.’
Jamie-Lynn was quick to praise Christina for helping her deal with her own emotions, saying: ‘For so long I’ve been celebrated for being the strong and positive one that it felt like I wasn’t, if I wanted to admit. that some days were hard.
“But she really pushed me to be able to say it because I thought I was letting people down if I wanted to talk about how hard it was sometimes,” she added, before sharing her thoughts on a cure.
The blonde star said living with MS can be “very lonely” and admitted it made her “angry”
Jamie-Lynn gave Christina a big hug when she got upset when she explained that she needed help getting around
Christina revealed she’s probably had MS for six or seven years as her legs would “buckle” while filming season one of Dead To Me alongside Linda Cardellini (left)
Christina admitted she was ‘so freaked out’ when she made a surprise appearance at the Emmy Awards in January
‘There’s a little hope that maybe one day we won’t have to live with this, it’s hard to let it go,’ she admitted, while Christina joked: ‘Yeah, I’m waiting, that’s why I’m sleeping. I want someone to wake me up when it’s over. Just wake me up when we can say, “you’re good, thanks!”
But despite her daily struggles, the Bad Moms star has launched a new podcast called MeSsy with Jamie-Lynn, saying she feels like she can finally be herself and wants listeners to feel seen and heard too.
‘I’ve played a character called Christina for 40 years, which I wanted everyone to think I was because it’s easier, but this is kind of my coming out party.
‘This is the person I’ve been all along because I kind of put on a little act for everyone for so long because I thought it was easier to be easy, “be funny, be easy, don’t let people feel say uncomfortable, “and I don’t care anymore, so that’s kind of what this is.”
Fans were delighted when Christina made a surprise appearance at the Emmy Awards in January, walking on stage with the help of a cane, but she admitted to Robin that she was ‘so freaked out’ at the star-studded ceremony.
“I actually kind of blacked out,” she said. ‘People said, “oh, you were so funny” and I’m like, “I don’t even know what I said”. I don’t know what I was doing, I was so freaked out I didn’t even know what was happening anymore’.
When asked if she felt the love after performing at the 75th Emmy Awards, she replied: ‘I mean, yeah, yeah. I’m living in a bit of hell… I’m not out much so it’s a bit hard just on my system, but yes of course the support is wonderful and I’m really grateful.’
Christina received a standing ovation on the night and decided to make light of the beautiful moment as she told the famous crowd: ‘You’re totally ashamed of disability by getting up, that’s fine!’
Christina pictured a Dead To Me Season 1 premiere in May 2019, a few years before her MS diagnosis
Christina revealed that it was her friend and former co-star Selma Blair who encouraged her to go and get tested for MS
Touching on that moment again with Robin, she said: ‘I felt really loved and it was a beautiful thing’, before making another joke, adding: ‘I just want to say this, the audience stood up for everyone! ‘
Christina also credited her friend and The Sweetest Thing co-star Selma Blair for encouraging her to go and get tested for MS.
The Emmy Award winner recalled: “She says, ‘you need to be checked for MS’ and I said, ‘no, really? The odds we two from the same movie? Come on, it’s not happening! ” (but) she knew. If not for her, it could have been a lot worse.’
Selma, 51, was diagnosed with MS in August 2018 and claimed in a 2023 interview that her symptoms had started to appear when she was a child.