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Topics: Christina Applegate, Health, Life, Parenting, Celebrity
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Madison Burgess
Topics: Christina Applegate, Health, Life, Parenting, Celebrity
Christina Applegate has opened up about a ‘knife to the heart’ comment her daughter Sadie made about her illness.
For those not in the loop, the 53-year-old Anchorman actress was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2021 and has since been very open about her struggles.
MS is a chronic health condition that affects the brain and spinal cord - there is currently no cure but treatment can help it become more manageable.
Since discovering she had the disease, Applegate has made it her mission to raise awareness of the common and not so common symptoms, as well as being candid about the difficulties she faces.
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She even has a podcast dedicated to the topic called MeSsy, which she hosts fellow MS sufferer Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
And now, she’s lifted the lid on what parenting with the condition has been like, during an appearance on SiriusXM's Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa podcast yesterday (30 July).
Applegate is mum to daughter, Sadie Grace LeNoble, 14, with her husband Martyn LeNoble and she’s also the stepmother of his daughter Marlon.
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Speaking about how Sadie has helped her stay positive following her MS diagnosis, she emotionally admitted: "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."
However, she went on to reveal something the 14-year-old said to her during an argument that left her upset.
The actress recalled: "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."
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Getting emotional, Applegate continued: "Very much so. Every day of my life is such a loss.
"See, now I'm gonna cry. See, this is my problem. I'm either extremely traumatic and crying, or I'm cracking myself up. So I'm never in between."
How the condition has affected her relationship with Sadie is not a topic she’s shied away from in the past either.
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Speaking with People last year, she listed some of the things she misses being able to do with her daughter.
Applegate said: "Dancing with her every day. Picking her up from school every day. Working at her school, working in the library.
"Being present out of the house, out of my bed. She doesn't see those things anymore. This is a loss for her as well. And we're both learning as we're going along."
She added: "And that breaks me, breaks me. Because I love doing stuff for my kid. I love making her food. I love bringing it to her. I love all of it, and I just can't sometimes. But I try. I try.
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“It's heartbreaking when you have to say to your kid, ‘I can't.’ It's like the worst feeling in the world as a mother."
Applegate candidly revealed: "You're their protector in life. When you have to say, ‘I can't,’ it rips your soul apart. I freak out about it every day."