Christina Applegate says she didn’t notice an early symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS) when she fell on the set of her Netflix series Dead to Me.
“I remember falling that day,” Applegate, 53, told co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler, 43, and guest Liz Feldman, 47, creator of Dead to Me, in the latest edition of their messy podcast Wednesday.
The Hollywood, California, native said she fell while filming a running sequence in a field on the latest edition of the podcast, titled Putting Life on Paper.
Applegate said of her fall: ‘Hello first sign of MS! So I don’t want to discourage everyone, but there it was.”
The Emmy-winning actress, who publicly announced that she had been battling MS in August 2021, and The Sopranos alum Sigler, who publicly revealed her battle with MS in January 2016, have opened up about their respective battles. health on the podcast.
Feldman noted that he had observed Applegate, who starred in the series during its three seasons from 2019 to 2022, experiencing physical symptoms, but attributed it to the long hours on set.
Christina Applegate, 53, says she didn’t notice an early symptom of multiple sclerosis when she fell on the set of her Netflix series Dead to Me. Photographed in April in Los Angeles.
Applegate played the role of Jen Harding on the series for its three seasons from 2019 to 2022.
“I remember you lost your balance when we were shooting the pilot a couple of times,” Feldman said. ‘It was very difficult to understand because, you know, I remember one time, it was very late at night.
“We had been filming for probably 14 or 15 hours… it seemed completely reasonable that someone would collapse.”
Applegate, who continued working on the show’s third season after being diagnosed, said “it was MS.”
Feldman said he felt empathy as he watched Applegate, also known for Married… with Children and Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, soldier on the production amid her health crisis.
“She could feel A, that she was scared, and B, that something was wrong…that something in her body wasn’t working the way she wanted it to,” Feldman said. ‘There is no manual for this.
“I can’t compare it to any experience I’ve ever had with a person before.”
Feldman said he “always tried to put (Applegate’s) health on my mind” while cameras rolled on the show’s third season, and at times told the actress that her well-being took priority over “just a TV show.” “.
Feldman said he told Applegate, “At the end of the day, yes, maybe you reach people and help people and entertain them, but this is your life.”
James Marsden, Liz Feldman, and Applegate were photographed at a Dead To Me promotional party in May 2019 in Santa Monica, California.
Applegate and her co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler, 43, discuss their respective battles with MS on their MeSsy podcast.
Applegate said Feldman and the Netflix show’s team went above and beyond to help her amid her battle with MS, pausing filming for a week to allow her to recover.
“That wouldn’t happen anywhere else, so my gratitude to you for being human, because you should be human and love other humans, is amazing,” Applegate said. “I can’t even tell you…that’s not the normal reaction.”
The series also starred Linda Cardellini, James Marsden, Sam McCarthy, Luke Roessler, Max Jenkins, Diana Maria Riva and Brandon Scott.
Applegate and Cardellini played the respective roles of Jen Harding and Judy Hale in the dark comedy, as a pair of grieving women who grow closer amid therapy.
The show was nominated six times for Primetime Emmys, and Applegate received two nominations for her work in the lead role.
Applegate told Kelly Clarkson in a December 2022 interview that the show gave her “this strange platform to deal with” her life-changing diagnosis.
“The beauty of Dead to Me is that… I didn’t have to be there all the time, I didn’t have to do all the jokes and I could break down in a scene,” Applegate said. And it was like me. Unfortunately, it was my soul breaking down in front of the world, but it was cathartic in a beautiful way.’