Christina Applegate has described the crushing physical toll of her ongoing health crisis after learning she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
Applegate, 54, told listeners of her “MeSsy” podcast on Tuesday that she timed her morning struggle that day and it took her ten full minutes just to lift her head from the pillow. The “Dead to Me” actress said she “almost couldn’t walk to the bathroom” once she finally stood, and now keeps a walker beside her bed.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” she stated. “This is what I am still living with.”
The Emmy winner emphasized that she has “never” experienced mobility problems this severe before, even during the five years she believed she had MS. She was always able to sit up on her own until now.
“So this is what I said when things are getting worse,” she shared. “Or they’re just new. Something new is happening. It took 10 minutes just to sit my head up, just to move without excruciating pain and weakness.”
The devastating update comes one week after Applegate dropped the bombshell that doctors had reversed her MS diagnosis. On the October 20 episode, she recalled her physician entering her room and declaring, “Congratulations, you don’t have MS.”
“I was, like, not happy at all. Everybody else was so happy,” she remembered. The actress called the misdiagnosis a “mindf–k” and told co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who has MS, that her condition has only deteriorated.
“I haven’t gotten better, Jamie! If anything, I’ve gotten worse,” she said last week. “So I’m back at square one where I don’t know what’s going on with me.”
Despite no longer having the diagnosis, Applegate made clear she remains fiercely loyal to the MS community she has publicly championed. Elsewhere in Tuesday’s episode, she assured listeners that “even though I don’t have this disease,” she’s still their “warrior.”
“I’m still going to speak out on your behalf forever and ever,” Applegate promised. “I still feel like part of this community and no matter what, I love you.”
The “Married…with Children” star outlined her next medical steps, saying she plans to see a rheumatologist to investigate diseases affecting joints, muscles and bones. “And you know, we’ll go from there,” she said. “If that doesn’t come with any kind of results, then we’re going to go to a different specialist and then a different specialist.”
Applegate admitted the prospect of repeated appointments exhausts her, since “getting around and going to offices and s–t is a lot,” She told listeners she is trying to manage the uncertainty by taking it “one step at a time” and holding onto hope that answers exist.
The actress first shared her assumed MS diagnosis publicly in 2021, revealing she had experienced symptoms for years while filming the final season of “Dead to Me.” She made her subsequent appearances with a cane and spoke openly about the disease’s impact on her body and career, becoming one of Hollywood’s most visible advocates for MS awareness before last week’s stunning reversal.
Applegate’s raw candor about both her physical deterioration and her emotional refusal to abandon the MS community has drawn intense attention to her podcast, which she launched with Sigler earlier this year as a space for unfiltered conversation about chronic illness.
The “MeSsy” podcast releases new episodes weekly.