Christina Applegate's daughter has shared her own diagnosis amid her mom's ongoing battle with MS.
Fans were left heartbroken when Applegate, 52, announced that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis after struggling with symptoms such as fatigue and mobility issues for months prior.
MS is a condition that affects the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves and those with the disease can experience a wide range of symptoms including extreme fatigue, depression, muscle and joint issues, as well as sexual dysfunction.
Thankfully, the Dead To Me star seems to have a strong network around her to support her though her health journey, including her 13-year-old daughter.
On a recent episode of her MeSsy podcast, which she hosts with fellow actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Applegate introduced her daughter Sadie, whom she shares with husband Martyn LeNoble.
The teen stated that she wanted to appear on her mom's podcast to discuss how she's also been affected by her mom's diagnosis.
“It’s been really hard watching my mom going from this person who could get up and dance every night," she said during the June 25 epsiode. "I remember when I was a kid, we would dance in her room for hours at a time.
"In 2021 when she got diagnosed, it kind of just felt like, not like everything was over, but it was hard seeing my mom lose a lot of the abilities she used to have in my childhood," she continued. “It’s definitely hard seeing my mom struggle with this."
Applegate, who welcomed her only child with her husband in 2011, confessed that she feels “incredibly guilty” when she’s having a bad day with her MS diagnosis.
"I don’t ever want you to feel that I’m not capable to be your protector, your mother, you know, I love you,” the actress told Sadie. "I want to make you food. I want to bring it to you. I want to do all the things and I do when I can. And I feel incredibly guilty when I can’t."
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The 13-year-old went on to state that her mom's health battle actually helped her with her own, revealing she had been diagnosed with POTS, or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.
POTS is a disease in which one feels dizziness or the feeling of passing out, especially when moving from a sitting or lying position to an upright one.
“When my mom’s like, ‘I’m in pain right now. I’m having tremors.’ If I didn’t have [POTS], I probably would be like, ‘I don’t really care. I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ But I actually have tremors from POTS,” Sadie explained. “It’s definitely a lot easier to understand what she’s going through when I have something I’m going through as well.”
Throughout her journey, the 52-year-old actress has been open with her symptoms as well as her mental health, even going on to tell fans that the "depression" she's feeling is unlike any episode she's felt before.
"I’m in a depression right now, which I don’t think I’ve felt that for years," she said during a different episode of her MeSsy podcast. "Like a real, f***-it-all depression where it’s kind of scaring me, too, a little bit because it feels really fatalistic.
"I’m trapped in, like, this darkness right now that I haven’t felt [in], like, I don’t even know how long, probably 20-something years," she added.
However, she later clarified that despite fans being worried about her revelation, she must be raw and open with her feelings during this period of her life as it is a way of letting that burden associated with MS go.
“I think it's important to be able to say these things,” she explained. “I dare anyone to be diagnosed with MS or any kind of chronic illness that has taken who you were prior to that moment and go, this is great. You know? No.
“You have moments of feeling like this is tiring and I don't wanna do this. But you do it, and by having friends like you and my beautiful friends that I have, by saying this s*** out loud, it releases the pressure in the balloon, man," she added.
If you or anybody you know is struggling with mental health, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor. Speaking to somebody will always help.
