Christina Applegate opens up on how multiple sclerosis has taken a toll on her life
Christina Applegate has opened up about living with multiple sclerosis, saying it ‘f***ing sucks’ to have the condition.
The 51-year-old star publicly disclosed that she had been diagnosed with MS in August 2021, while she was filming the third and final season of Netflix comedy series Dead To Me.
Speaking previously about receiving the life-changing diagnosis, Christina said: "I found that I had MS while we were shooting on a Monday.
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“I went home, and the doctor said, ‘I need to do this meeting with you.’ I could feel that this Zoom was not going to be good news. It sucked, I’m not going to lie."
The autoimmune condition can affect the brain and the spinal cord, resulting in a range of potential symptoms including trouble with vision, arm or leg movement, sensation or balance.
It is about two to three times more common in women than men and is usually diagnosed in the patient’s 20s, 30s or 40s but can develop at any age, according to the NHS.
There is no cure for MS, but its symptoms can be treated.
Christina has previously revealed that she began to experience a loss of balance while filming a dance sequence in the first season of Dead To Me, which was released in May 2019. She also began to falter while playing tennis before later developing tingling and numbness in her extremities.
Christine candidly shared what life is like since getting her diagnosis in a recent interview with Vanity Fair.
She told the publication: “With the disease of MS, it’s never a good day. You just have little s***ty days.”
She went on to highlight the struggles those living with MS face, saying that even something as simple as taking a shower is ‘frightening’.
“People are like, ‘Well, why don’t you take more showers?’” she went on. “Well, because getting in the shower is frightening. You can fall, you can slip, your legs can buckle. Especially because I have a glass shower.
“It’s frightening to me to get in there. There are just certain things that people take for granted in their lives that I took for granted. Going down the stairs, carrying things—you can’t do that anymore. It f***ing sucks. I can still drive my car short distances. I can bring up food to my kid. Up, never down.”
Christina, who is mum to 12-year-old daughter Sadie, said that she has a friend who stays with her through the week to help out and that on weekends a caretaker steps in.
Claire Reid