Christina Applegate has opened up about the harsh reality of living with multiple sclerosis.
In 2021, the Dead to Me star was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis - a lifelong autoimmune disease that disrupts communication between the brain and nerves throughout the body.
The condition can lead to a range of debilitating symptoms, including persistent numbness, vision issues, and, in some cases, paralysis.
Now 53, Applegate has revealed that the disease has come to define her daily life. During a recent appearance on the Making Space podcast with Hoda Kotb, she gave a raw and emotional update on her health, describing her experience as a "nightmare".
“I am defined by it right now,” she said. “I'm three and a half years in. I have days where I can't even walk to the bathroom, so I am defined by it.”
The Emmy-winning actress didn’t hold back about the emotional toll of living with the neurological disease.
“I'm angry at it still, and there’s a lot of us out there who are newly diagnosed that are not quite ready to accept this reality,” she said. “I keep thinking that I’m just going to wake up from this nightmare, and it’s just going to be over.”
She also confessed that she feels like her symptoms are progressing: “I want to do these things, and I can't, and it feels like I'm getting worse. And that’s disheartening.”
Still, Applegate's holding on to a sliver of hope. “But then there's like this voice inside of me that is like, 'You've got to believe in a miracle. You've got to believe in another side of this.'"
On the episode, Married... with Children alum was joined by her MeSsy podcast co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who has been living with MS for over 20 years.
Despite their shared experiences, Applegate admitted she doesn’t always feel like a source of strength. “I feel like I'm not very inspiring,” she said.
“If someone listening to me goes, 'Oh my God, I feel that way, and I feel like I'm not doing it right.' There is no doing MS right," she explained, to which Sigler agreed with her instantly: “No, there's not.”
She also described how everyday tasks have become physically exhausting - using a recent trip to the dentist as a painful example.
"I went to go to the dentist yesterday, and it was a half-an-hour appointment, and it was like the most miserable hour and a half of my life," Applegate said. "Just getting down my stairs, getting into the car, getting into the parking lot, getting into the elevator, going into the office, like the whole thing was not even an hour and a half."
"And by the time I got home, I was like, 'I can't move anymore.' And that's, that's the stuff that makes me (say) that I can't accept it yet because I'm mad still," she added
Sigler had similar raw emotions to Applegate when she was first diagnosed with MS but felt hesitant to express them.
“They were feelings that I didn’t think - I wouldn't allow myself to feel or didn’t think I deserve to feel for way too long,” she said. “So I think in the beginning of her journey with this, for her to be able to express herself like this, I admire.”