Christina Applegate has spoken candidly about one aspect of living with multiple sclerosis (MS) that made it difficult for her to face her own reflection.
The actor first shared details of her health challenges in 2021, posting on X: “It’s been a strange journey. But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition.
“It’s been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going. Unless some a**hole blocks it.”
MS is a chronic, incurable illness that affects the central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord. It can disrupt everyday movement and functioning, with symptoms often varying from person to person.
The Mayo Clinic lists common MS symptoms such as vision issues; difficulties with arm or leg movement; problems with sensation, balance, or coordination; numbness; muscle stiffness; and challenges with thinking, learning, or planning.
In an interview with People, Applegate explained that her symptoms have left her spending much of her time in bed.
And while she has continued to speak openly about the realities of MS, she said one unexpected consequence made it particularly hard to see herself—both in a mirror and on screen while watching her own work in Dead to Me.
Speaking recently to The Los Angeles Times, the 51-year-old said she didn’t watch season three for months after it came out because she didn’t like “seeing myself struggling.”
But that wasn’t the only reason she delayed watching it.
She said: “Also, I gained 40 lbs. because of inactivity and medications, and I didn’t look like myself, and I didn’t feel like myself.”
Despite that, Applegate said she eventually managed to separate herself from self-criticism, appreciating the show for what it was. She said she was “able to distance myself from my own ego, and realize what a beautiful piece of television it was,” adding that it was ‘so much fun to see and experience for the very first time’ the scenes she wasn’t in.
She also reflected on what MS has meant for her future as a performer, saying: “It’s my last awards show as an actor probably, so it’s kind of a big deal.
“Right now, I couldn’t imagine getting up at 5 a.m. and spending 12 to 14 hours on a set; I don’t have that in me at this moment.”
According to Yahoo! she described similar feelings when looking back on her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in 2022, saying: “I want to throw up when I think of the pictures that are out there of me. I look sad and embarrassed. Because all I can think is: Everyone is staring. Once people stared at my b****. But now I knew they were staring not only because I was disabled; they were staring because I was fat, forever an unacceptable fate for women in Hollywood.”
She continued: “Sometimes the weight bothered me more than the disease. I didn’t look in the mirror for a year.”
Applegate has consistently talked about how difficult life with MS can be. During an appearance on the Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa podcast last year, she said her daughter, Sadie, has been her motivation to keep going.
“I don’t get up in the morning with that, I get up because of her. She’s the reason I’m still here and trying,” she admitted.
She also shared a painful moment from a recent conversation with Sadie: “But she did say to me, and we got into a big thing the other day, and sorry Sadie, but it has to be said. She said, ‘I missed who you were before you got sick’.
“That is just like a knife to the heart because I miss who I was before I got sick too. Very much.”
In her new memoir, titled You With The Sad Eyes, the actress also wrote that Sadie is at the heart of her ‘dedication to life’.