Christina Applegate shares how MS has affected her life: 'It’s never a good day'
Christina Applegate is opening up about how multiple sclerosis has taken a toll on her life.
The actress, who is known for her roles in “Dead To Me,” “The Sweetest Thing” and “Anchorman,” said having MS “f---ing sucks.”
“With the disease of MS, it’s never a good day,” she said in an interview with Vanity Fair. “You just have little s----- days.”
Applegate said that the simplest tasks can be “frightening” like getting in the shower.
“You can fall, you can slip, your legs can buckle,” she said. “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.”
“Gravity can just pull you down and take everything down with you,” she added.
Applegate revealed on social media in 2021 that she was diagnosed with MS.
The disease affects the brain and spinal cord (or central nervous system), according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society says that women are more likely to have MS, but men can get it too.
Since MS makes patients susceptible to infections, according to the National Library of Medicine, Applegate says she doesn’t “want to be around a lot of people.” She said she also doesn’t want a lot of stimulation of the nervous system so she likes to “keep it as quiet and mellow as possible.”
“It’s exhausting,” she said. “Imagine just being in a crowd of people and how loud that is. It’s like 5,000 times louder for anyone who has lesions on their brains.”
Applegate said she found out while filming the final season of “Dead To Me.” She told Vanity Fair that the show may be her last time acting on camera.
While she remembers how taxing it was to film during that time and feels relieved that she “no longer has to push so hard to get through my day,” she said she misses her co-stars the most, including Linda Cardellini, who plays Judy Hale in the series.
“Linda and I, from day one, were in love with each other and trusted each other and supported each other,” Applegate said. “I’m probably not going to work on-camera again, but I’m so glad that I went out with someone who is by far the greatest actress I’ve ever worked with in my entire life, if not the greatest human I’ve ever known.”
