Christina Applegate is grappling with her identity after learning she no longer has multiple sclerosis.
The “Dead to Me” star, 54, made the revelation on Tuesday’s episode of her “MeSsy” podcast alongside co-host Jamie Lynn Sigler and guest Jack Osbourne, 40. Applegate quipped to Osbourne after he admitted feeling like “a bit of a fraud” about his own MS symptoms, “Talk about being a fraud. I don’t even have it anymore.”
Applegate had announced last month that she does not have MS, five years after first going public with her diagnosis. Yet the Emmy winner told listeners she has been having a “hard” time “shak[ing] that identity” since it “been my identity for so long.” She explained, “I lived as a person with MS for almost six years.”
Osbourne, who was diagnosed in 2012 at age 26, assured Applegate she still “qualifies,” with Sigler dubbing her an “honorary member.” Applegate agreed, “I’ll never leave this community. I’ve made so many lifelong friends. I care so deeply about everybody we represent. I’m still always gonna be a part of it one way or another.”
The Golden Globe nominee credited Sigler with being “always uplifting” when she is “incredibly down,” then declared, “I need to get my s–t together.” Applegate expressed admiration for Osbourne’s positive framing of his own MS struggles and indicated she has “some serious work” to do regarding her own mindset.
Her frustration runs deeper than identity alone. Applegate shared that she is “f–king frustrated” while “back at square one” after her misdiagnosis and “doing some testing, going one by one [with] the sister diseases to MS.” She explained that rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and Lyme’s disease can “kind of mimic MS,” saying, “I’m being tested for those things slowly but surely.”
The physical toll has not lifted with the diagnostic reversal. In her headline-making health update in October, Applegate made it clear she still suffers from debilitating symptoms. “I haven’t gotten better,” she said. “If anything, I’ve gotten worse. … I still have to use wheelchairs when I go to the doctor’s office. I can’t walk from the car to the room. I’m still in this. Nothing magical happened when she said, ‘You don’t have MS.’ Nothing magical happened.”
The following week, the Tony nominee described the struggles she’s “still living with” — including taking 10 minutes to physically get out of bed. “I actually timed it today,” Applegate said. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
Applegate first revealed her MS diagnosis in August 2021, disclosing that she had noticed symptoms years earlier while filming the final season of Netflix’s “Dead to Me.” The condition forced her to use a cane and eventually a wheelchair during production, and she made her first post-diagnosis public appearance at her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in November 2022 with a cane, visibly emotional. She later said the diagnosis helped her understand years of unexplained symptoms, including balance issues and numbness in her extremities. The “Married… With Children” alum underwent chemotherapy for breast cancer in 2008 and had a double mastectomy, making her latest health battle part of a long pattern of medical challenges.
Applegate continues to record new episodes of “MeSsy” with Sigler, with the podcast serving as her primary public platform amid her ongoing health journey.
