Christina Applegate details 'scary' period before MS diagnosis: 'This body that I had known was no longer mine' - Yahoo Entertainment

Christina Applegate is sharing much astir her multiple sclerosis diagnosis.

The 50-year-old histrion spoke to Variety astir the final play of Dead to Me, present streaming connected Netflix, and however arsenic accumulation began, she experienced "scary" symptoms that yet led to her diagnosis. MS is simply a illness of the cardinal tense strategy that disrupts the travel of accusation wrong the encephalon that tin origin unpredictable physical, mental, and affectional symptoms.

"I’m not going to accidental that immoderate of it was easy," said Applegate, 50, astir finishing the show. "I started having symptoms successful January 2021 — precise small, thing you could conscionable brushwood off. Right earlier we started shooting [in May 2021], it was arsenic if I got deed by a motortruck and didn’t cognize what was going on."

She called it "very scary for me, due to the fact that this assemblage that I had known was nary longer mine." At first, they had to "kind of enactment around" her enigma symptoms "until, finally, I had answers. I recovered that I had MS portion we were shooting connected a Monday. I went home, and the doc said, 'I request to bash this gathering with you.' I could consciousness that this Zoom was not going to beryllium bully news. It sucked, I'm not going to lie."

After Applegate's diagnosis, the amusement unopen down for 5 months truthful the Married … with Children alum could process the quality and commencement treatment. However, "There is nary processing the information that you person a lifelong degenerative disease," she said. "Maybe different radical could person gone into acceptance. I’m conscionable a twelvemonth in, truthful I'm inactive successful that mourning process."

She credits her co-star Linda Cardellini and showrunner Liz Feldman, who she was interviewed alongside, for helping her beryllium capable to implicit the series. By the clip she returned to the acceptable — which she insisted connected doing — she needed a wheelchair. She had to physically beryllium held up, by an off-camera unit member, for shots. She'd instrumentality naps to get done the agelong portion days. Sometimes, she conscionable had to permission and spell home.

"If I didn't person these 2 ladies, especially, I don't cognize what I would person done," Applegate said.

Applegate was fixed the enactment of not returning. Feldman said they would portion unneurotic what they had to bring closure to the communicative astir 2 widowed champion friends. The Emmy-winning histrion said finishing it "was personal."

"The speech had travel up, like, 'Should we conscionable stop?' I was like, 'No, we person to decorativeness this for ourselves. We person to archer our story. And I’ll bash immoderate I tin — I’m conscionable going to request your help,'" she said. "When I’d say, 'Hey, you cognize what? I can't enactment today,' they’d go, 'OK, we're gonna not enactment today,' oregon 'We'll find different scenes.' I was profoundly grateful that I could say, 'I request a fractional an hour,' oregon 'I request to spell laic down — I can't walk.' … My time started hard, truthful it was lone going to get harder arsenic we went on during the day. So we conscionable tried to gait ourselves arsenic overmuch arsenic possible. We conscionable went, 'Let's conscionable trust connected the communicative and this relationship. All that different worldly doesn't matter.'"

Applegate present uses a cane to get around and has gained 40 pounds aft her diagnosis. She said portion making the show, she "wouldn’t look successful the reflector anymore" portion doing fittings with the costume designer.

Asked what she learned portion making the show, Applegate — not acrophobic of making jokes astir her diagnosis — quipped, "That I person MS. Just kidding — it ne'er gets old!"

She past got serious, saying, "I don't deliberation of beingness poetically. I don't self-examine. I've ever been go, go, go, go, go. I'm astir 51 years old. I've been successful SAG since 1976. I've worked a agelong time. During the people of that, I person had immoderate incredibly hard things hap to maine successful the midst of work, and enactment ever made maine propulsion done it. I broke my ft portion I was surviving my imagination of being connected Broadway [in Sweet Charity]. I had bosom crab portion I was connected my favourite amusement astatine the time, Samantha Who? A fellow [Lee Grivas] besides died that year."

She continued, "Having the biggest 1 [MS] hap to maine during this, I person to grant help. I person to consciousness the symptom that I deliberation I've ever wanted to consciousness for each these different things, that I wasn't allowed to due to the fact that I wasn't fixed an astonishing abstraction to bash so. I had pushed everything down for truthful long. Through these characters — getting a accidental to not person to beryllium connected each the f***ing time, beryllium comic oregon get to the f***ing punch line; being capable to play these characters that are truthful broken, that consciousness truthful profoundly and truthful painfully — it truly taught me: Christina, you've got to beryllium capable to grant that successful yourself sometimes."

Applegate isn't definite what her aboriginal holds with acting, she'll continue to produce for sure, but said that "the acquisition of my life" was co-starring other Cardellini connected this show. "Hopefully, that was not the acquisition of my swan song. But if it was, I americium truthful blessed that it was with [her]."

Earlier this week, Applegate made her first nationalist quality since her diagnosis, attending her Hollywood Walk of fame prima ceremony. She debuted her caller cane and appeared sans shoes, arsenic footwear tin beryllium restricting for radical who person MS. Her erstwhile TV ma from Married … With Children, Katey Sagal, held her to assistance her support her equilibrium astatine the podium.

Applegate was accompanied by Cardellini and Feldman, who some spoke connected her behalf, arsenic good arsenic Sagal and David Faustino. Applegate's husband, Porno for Pyros instrumentalist Martyn LeNoble, 11-year-old girl Sadie and step-daughter were among those determination to grant her.

She shaded the illness that's made her suffer power of her body, and made it wide she's not accepting of immoderate of this, rocking a peculiar manicure for the juncture that said: "F U MS."