Christina Applegate has heartbreakingly opened up about the reality of her battle with breast cancer, and how she hid her true emotions from the public.
The actress, 52, who is living with MS, also previously battled breast cancer which led to her having a double mastectomy in 2008.
A mastectomy is a surgery to remove one or both breasts, sometimes including other tissue nearby such as lymph nodes, to treat breast cancer. It can also be done preventatively if a woman is deemed to be at a high risk of developing breast cancer in the future, and reconstructive surgery can also be done to restore the shape of the breast.
Christina has now opened up about her regrets about not being honest about the emotional struggle she faced following the operation, after putting on a brave face about it in public.
She opened up about the harrowing time in her life during an appearance on the Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shepherd, admitting that her scars left her crying in secret every night.
She explained: "I learned that lesson the hard way because in 2008, when I had breast cancer at 36 years old, I went out, and I was the good girl talking about 'Oh, I love my new boobs' that are all scarred and f**ked up. What was I thinking?
"My first interview was with Robin Roberts when I had cancer, and I'm sitting there lying my ass off about how I felt."
After the interview finished, she admitted she "literally fell into the wall" and began sobbing "because it was a lie."
"Everything I was saying was a freaking lie. It was me trying to convince myself of something, and I think that did no service to anyone," she said.
"Yes, I started a foundation right away. Yes, I did all the things that I had to do, and we raised millions of dollars for women to get MRIs who were at high risk. Yes, we did a good thing, but at the back of it, I was taking off my bra and crying every night. And I wish that I had said that," she heartbreakingly added.
Christina also told Dax that she'd advised another friend who is "in the public eye" to be honest about their own battle with cancer, after they shared a post telling fans: "If there's anyone that can beat it, it's going to be me."
"I said, 'Take it down'. I said, 'Take it down right now because someone's mom just died, and she was pretty strong. Someone's daughter just died, someone's sister just died, someone's dad just died from this. Take it down.' I said, 'What you're gonna do is you're going to be honest every step of the way through your chemo, your radiation, all the stuff.'
"It ended up that people really were helped by what she did," she revealed.
Christina has been open with her fans since being diagnosed with MS (multiple sclerosis) in 2021 and often updates them on her medical journey of learning to live with the condition.