Christina Applegate 'Spending Every Day Writhing in Agony' In Crippling Multiple Sclerosis Battle
Dec. 2 2024, Published 5:42 p.m. ET
Christina Applegate's crippling battle with multiple sclerosis has made it nearly impossible to do simple tasks, like open a bottle or even use the bathroom, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The former Married...with Children star shared in an August 2021 post on X that she was diagnosed with the disease.
Now, Applegate has admitted that she has "knives" in her stomach every day of her life.
The 53-year-old actress said: "It’s so freaking painful and so hard and so awkward."
Her battle has progressed to the point where she joked she has trouble getting up to go to the toilet, and said instead she will "get back in my bed and pee in my diaper because I don’t feel like walking all the way to the damn bathroom."
She later qualified: "I actually don’t lay here and pee in my bed diaper. That’s just a joke.”
Applegate shared her MS diagnosis in 2021 and tweeted: "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------ blocks it."
The Dead to Me star added in a follow-up tweet: "As one of my friends that has MS said 'we wake up and take the indicated action'. And that’s what I do. So now I ask for privacy. As I go through this thing. Thank you xo."
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Applegate further detailed her struggles and challenges while speaking with Vanity Fair last year.
She said: "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------ sucks. I can still drive my car short distances. I can bring up food to my kid. Up, never down."
But through it all, Applegate has tried to maintain a sense of her famous humor.
In 2022, the Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead star was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The ceremony marked the first time she had been seen in public since revealing that she'd been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
As loyal fans came to cheer her on, Applegate wasn't shy when it came to talking about her condition.
She said bluntly: "Oh, by the way, I have a disease. Did you not notice? I’m not even wearing shoes. Anyhoo, you’re supposed to laugh at that."
The award-winning actress told The Kelly Clarkson Show host Kelly Clarkson she uses her humor as a defense mechanism amid her health battle.
Applegate said: "My humor shield keeps me OK. But of course, down on the insides, you feel the things. I do it to kind of deflect and also make people not scared to be around me. When people see me now as a disabled person, I want them to feel comfortable that we can laugh about it."
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