During the filming of Netflix’s Dead To Me, Christina Applegate overlooked early signs of multiple sclerosis (MS).
Applegate played the role of Jen Harding in this Emmy-nominated dark comedy, which debuted in 2019 and was produced for three seasons.
The series, also featuring Linda Cardellini, follows the developing friendship between a high-strung widow and an easygoing individual hiding a surprising secret.
In 2021, Applegate was diagnosed with MS after experiencing symptoms such as tingling and back issues.
The National Institute of Health describes MS as a ‘chronic neurological disorder’ where the immune system erroneously targets healthy cells.
Initial symptoms are generally mild, potentially causing issues with vision, muscle weakness, and numbness.
Applegate has acknowledged that she dismissed early MS symptoms two years before her diagnosis.
In the latest episode of her podcast, MeSsy, the 53-year-old discussed the symptom she and Dead To Me director Liz Feldmen initially attributed to fatigue.
While filming one scene, Applegate’s fall in a field served as an early sign of her autoimmune disease.
Applegate reminisced: “I remember falling that day… Hi, first sign of MS!”
Feldman recalled witnessing Applegate losing her balance ‘a couple of times’ but admitted it was ‘very hard to figure out’.
She explained: “I remember one time it was like really late at night, we’d been shooting probably 14 or 15 hours, it seemed completely reasonable that anybody would be collapsing.”
Though Dead To Me was renewed for a third season in 2020, production was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Applegate’s health condition.
Reflecting on the situation, Feldman remarked: “There’s no handbook for this. I could just sense that A, she was scared and B, that something was wrong, something in her body was not working the way that she wanted it to.”
She continued: “I knew Christina well enough to know that something major had to be going on because she’s an extreme professional.”
By the summer of 2021, as filming resumed, Applegate had to be brought to the set in a wheelchair due to her limited mobility.
Producers adjusted her scenes to enhance her comfort as her condition progressed.
Applegate expressed her gratitude, saying: “That would not happen anywhere else. So my gratitude toward you guys being humans – because you should be humans and love other humans! – is, like, I can’t even tell you, that’s not the normal reaction!”