HEALTH'It's Really, Really Hard': Christina Applegate Says Battling MS Is the 'Worst Thing I've Ever Gone Through'
Christina Applegate got candid about the daily pain of living with multiple sclerosis.
Christina Applegate is opening up about her health battle like never before, as she got brutally honest about how tough life has been since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
“If people saw what my life was like on the daily, they wouldn't they wouldn't be able to do it. Because I can sometimes not do it. It's really, really hard,” she said during the May 5 episode of “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.”
She sat down with her “MeSsy” podcast cohost Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who also lives with MS, to talk about her daily routine.
“This is the worst thing I've ever had in my life,” the 53-year-old star told host Conan O’Brien. "It's the worst thing I've ever gone through.”
“I don't really leave the house anymore,” Applegate, who was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease back in 2021, added.
Christina Applegate is battling MS.
She admitted the physical pain can be so intense that she sometimes ends up “screaming” in bed — and the bouts of vomiting and diarrhea have sent her to the hospital more than 30 times.
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune disease that targets the central nervous system, especially the brain and spinal cord. It damages the protective myelin sheath around nerves, causing a range of serious neurological issues. While there’s no cure, treatments can help ease symptoms and slow things down.
The actress said that she rarely leaves her house anymore.
Applegate grew emotional while talking through it all. “I’m going to start crying,” she said at one point.
O’Brien quickly responded with support, adding, “Cry all you want, and then I'm gonna start crying.”
Applegate replied, “I'm just having a pissy day today. I'm having a bad MS-y day.”
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She also opened up about the unfair questions people ask after learning she has MS.
“'How did you get it?' … Meaning, I must have done something wrong in my life to have this disease. I did it to myself,” she shared.
Applegate, who was also diagnosed with b----- cancer in 2008, added, “It's, like, I had b----- cancer as well, so, ‘Oh, you must have done something.’ That stigma is — I'm used to it now, but it was for a while, like, was so hard to swallow because why the f--- would you think that I would do something to have this?”
Christina Applegate's symptoms have landed her in the hospital dozens of times.
The Dead to Me star recalled early signs like “losing her balance.” But the pain, she said, went way beyond what anyone could imagine.
“And when I say numb, it's numb, but it hurts,” she explained.
As if her MS struggles weren’t enough, Applegate is also grieving the recent loss of her dad, Robert “Bobby” Applegate, who died at 82.
“You’re probably wondering why I’m crying right now,” she said. “My dad just passed away a week ago. This is the first time I’ve really cried.”
“I think kind of ... I wasn’t allowing myself to have that yet. Too busy with this, too busy with that,” the actress added.
Christina Applegate continues to speak out about the stigma of chronic illness.
Even though her family knew the end was near, she questioned whether that made the grieving process any easier.
“Is that an excuse for not feeling?” she asked. “Because you know that someone’s gonna go? And you’ve said your goodbyes?”
“He and my mom separated when I was, like, 5 months old, but he’s been in my life ever since,” Christina shared.
While he wasn’t always hands-on, Christina still appreciated the time they had together.
“[He] wasn’t part of the lessons, part of life,” she said, “[but he] gave me beautiful siblings and an amazing stepmother.”
She added, “My dad and mother split up when I was so young. didn’t get to spend the kind of time with him that I think either I or him would’ve liked to have spent.”
