Christina Applegate addresses her ‘I don’t enjoy living’ comment amid MS battle

Christina Applegate has recently spoken about the deep struggles with her mental health, particularly her battle with multiple sclerosis (MS), which has led her to make some startlingly candid confessions about her enjoyment of life. The 52-year-old actress delved into these personal issues during an episode of her podcast, MeSsy, revealing, “This is being really honest. I don’t enjoy living. I don’t enjoy it. I don’t enjoy things anymore.”

Applegate expressed how daily activities that many take for granted have become burdensome for her. “If someone’s like, let’s get up and go for a walk or let’s go get a coffee… I don’t enjoy that process.” The comparison of her current state to her past life has exacerbated her feelings of despair. “What makes it harder is when you compare it to how it used to be. I’m in a depression right now, which I don’t think I’ve felt that for, like, years.”

Describing her emotional state further, she shared, “Like a real f**k-it-all depression, like real depression, where it’s kind of scaring me too a little bit, because it feels really fatalistic… I’m trapped in this darkness right now that I haven’t felt like that in, I don’t even know how long, probably 20-something years.”

Following her troubling comments, Applegate addressed her mental state in a subsequent podcast episode, clarifying her earlier statements.


“I was talking about some dark stuff that I was thinking and feeling,” she explained. The actress stressed the importance of open dialogue about mental health struggles, highlighting how keeping silent can give negative thoughts greater power. “There’s so much shame a lot of people feel when they’re going through mental health issues.”

Choosing to be vocal about such feelings, she argues, can be “incredibly healing.” Applegate emphasized, “By making such a big deal about it you’re making other people think, ‘Oh, s**t-, I can’t talk about this’. And that is not OK with me. It’s important to be able to say these things. And, no, I’m not sitting here on suicide watch, OK? I am not. Nor have I ever been.”

Beyond her mental health, Applegate has been open about the physical toll MS has taken on her life. The disease has significantly impacted her mobility, a reality that became starkly evident during her work commitments.


She recalled the early indicators of her condition in an interview on Good Morning America, saying, “My symptoms had started in the early part of 2021, and it was, like, literally just tingling on my toes. And by the time we started shooting in the summer of that same year, I was being brought to set in a wheelchair. Like, I couldn’t walk that far.”

Christina Applegate’s candidness about her struggles with MS and depression sheds light on the often unseen challenges faced by those living with chronic illnesses and mental health issues, reminding us of the crucial need for openness and understanding in discussions about health and well-being.