Christina Applegate Shares Her First Reaction to MS Diagnosis, Recalls Early Symptoms: 'I Couldn't Walk'
The 'Dead to Me' star revealed she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021.
Christina Applegate is not sugarcoating her journey with multiple sclerosis. On Thursday’s episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the Dead to Me star reveals her reaction to her diagnosis.
Applegate was diagnosed with MS in 2021, while shooting the final season of Dead to Me.
"Can I say, it sucked balls," the 50-year-old actress tells Clarkson about initially receiving the news at the start of the work week.
While detailing her experience, Applegate reveals that her health journey was a challenge.
"Shooting [Dead to Me] was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life," she says. "I was diagnosed during shooting and I didn't know what was happening to me. I couldn’t walk. They had to use a wheelchair to get me to set. I was freaking out until someone was like, 'You need a MRI.'"
She adds, "Then I found out on a Monday after work that I had MS. A disease that I'm going to have for the rest of my life. And then I started thinking about the last four years and I had very small symptoms."
Applegate emphasizes the importance of paying attention to your body.
"We were on set, and I would go, 'Oh, I think I'm tired,'" she says. "So it presented itself a few years ago until it just got as bad as it did."
Applegate first shared the news of her MS in August 2021. "It’s been a strange journey. But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition," she tweeted.
At the time, production on Dead to Me was paused for several months as she began treatment.
In November, Applegate made her first public appearance since announcing her diagnosis during her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony. During the duration of the ceremony, the actress was either seated or using a walking stick. When it was time to take the podium, she was escorted and supported onstage by her Married With Children TV mom, Katy Segal.
Though she did not make much mention of her diagnosis, Applegate used the end of her speech to find humor in her disease.
"Oh, by the way, I have a disease," she joked, her first acknowledgement of her battle with MS. "Did you not notice? I'm not wearing shoes! Anywho, you're supposed to laugh at that."
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