Christina Applegate has been a fixture in Hollywood since she was a teen. She first gained megafame with her portrayal of Kelly Bundy on the hit sitcom Married…with Children. The rapid success of that show meant that Applegate was a household name while she was still in her teens. From there, she built a steady career of acting success, appearing in many TV shows and films over the decades. Most recently, she’s won acclaim with her thrilling performance in the Netflix series, “Dead To Me.” But it hasn’t been an easy road for Applegate. She’s had to endure medical and health hardships over the years, and she’s bravely faced these head on. In 2008, Applegate was diagnosed with breast cancer, and had to undergo a double mastectomy. Fortunately, that procedure worked, and she was declared cancer-free not long after. But sadly, her days of having a clean bill of health were cut short, when she was tragically diagnosed with MS. She announced this diagnoses in 2021, as she filmed the final season of Dead To Me. It’s been a challenging few years for the star, and it looks as if it will be a difficult road ahead for her, as the disease advances. Recently, however, Christina showed up for a public event, and was seen out for the first time in a while. Join Facts Verse, as we present: Christina Applegate Publicly Shows Her MS Diagnosis for the First Time.
Christina Applegate has had no shortage of challenging health issues in the past decade. First she fought off breast cancer. After having a successful double mastectomy, which rendered the cancer gone, she wasn’t anywhere close to being done with her health struggles. She discovered that she has a somewhat rare mutation in what’s known as her BRCA gene, which means she is more likely to develop ovarian cancer too. So, as a preventative measure, she had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed as well. It looked for a while like she might end up with a clean bill of health into her later years. Sadly, this wasn’t the case. She is now is dealing with a new diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, or MS. But the star has fought bravely and with a positive attitude, which has been an inspiration to her legions of fans around the world. And the fact that she has continued to work and take care of her family throughout her health ordeal only means she acts as a beacon of admiration for people who also struggle with health issues.
Hollywood Walk Of Fame
On November 14th, 2022, Christina was honored with a star on Hollywood’s famed Walk of Fame. It was a momentous occasion for a number of reasons. To start, it’s a huge deal for any Hollywood performer to be immortalized with a star on this legendary walk that graces the sidewalks of downtown Hollywood. Applegate’s ceremony was actually supposed to be in 2020, but it had to be delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. So it was eventually rescheduled for 2022. Thus it inadvertently became significant for another reason. It was the first time that Christina had been seen in public since she revealed in 2021 that she suffers from MS. So fans of the star were thrilled to be able to see her speak and accept her award, and were pleased to see that her heart and mind are in a good place.
Applegate’s Acceptance Speech
For her acceptance speech at the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, she was joined by several of her prominnent costars from over the years. Two of her Married… With Children costars were the ones who officially inducted her. Katey Sagal and David Faustino spent so many years on set with her as part of the Bundy family, so they were thrilled to be a part of the ceremony. As Sagal introduced Christina, she teared up as she said the words, “You’re not alone. We’re all here.” It was a powerful moment that served as a reminder of the strength that friends can give to us when we’re struggling.
Sagal then remained up at the podium with Applegate, making sure she was able to stand and keep her balance as she gave her acceptance speech. This was a little bit of an indicator as to where Applegate is at the moment, from a physical standpoint. Her MS has made it so that she has to walk and stand with the help of a cane, and she has balance issues. So Sagal gently held her friend’s arm as she spoke, to ensure she felt comfortable and safe.
Thanking her Family and Friends
Applegate took the opportunity during her acceptance speech to reflect admiration and gratitude to the important people in her life. She gave a tear filled and emotional speech, where she spoke glowingly about her daughter. She told her daughter that not only was she a smart and kind person, but that she’s also the most important person in Christina’s life. She even remarked at how doing the mundane things in life, like driving her child to school, was now something she cherished. She also spoke praise about her fans in attendance. She referred to them all as being gorgeous, and said that she loved all of them a ton. She talked as well about her fellow Hollywood friends who were there to help celebrate the occasion. In addition to Katey Sagal and David Faustino, the crowdalso included Linda Cardellini, with whom Christina stars in Dead To Me, as well as that show’s creator, Liz Feldman. She even referred to Sagal and Faustino as ‘her two loves’ since they all started together so many years ago on Married… with Children, and had remained close over the decades. She also thanked her team of representatives, with whom she’s been working for many years. She also revealed that she has never thought of her friends as simply friends. Instead, she has always considered them all family. This is because she feels they’ve help take care of her in immeasurable ways over the years, and she feels like she couldn’t live without any of them.
Finding humor in the moment
Applegate has made a career of being not only talented and beautiful, but also funny. So it didn’t come as a huge surprise that even she would be able to take a moment as emotionally charged as this event, and fund humor in it. For starters, she joked that Sagal wasn’t standing there to help her physically, but more to “steal the thunder.” The audience laughed in appreciation at the moment of levity. Then later on, as Christina was thanking her daughter, she paused for another moment of light hearted humor, albeit with a dark undertone. She stopped in the middle of a sentence, and commented, “Oh, by the way, I have a disease.” She jokingly wondered aloud if anyone had noticed, despite her condition being quite obvious. She even laughed and pointed out that she wasn’t even wearing shoes. And to help anyone who was perhaps on the fence as to whether or not she was joking, she ended the riff with, “you’re supposed to laugh at that.”
Applegate tells a story about her as a little girl
During her speech Applegate was able to connect the moment with something that happened to her when she was quite young. She told about the time that, as a five-year-old girl, she stood outside the same theater where she now was accepting her speech and waited in line to see Star Wars. She recalled looking down at the stars on the Walk of Fame, and wondering out loud who all the people were on them. She wondered what they had done to have their name put on the stars. And she concluded, as only a little girl would, by saying that she didn’t even care what they had done to get a star – she definitely wanted one.
Applegate’s MS
In a recent interview, Applegate gave some insight on how the filming process had been for the previous and final season of Dead To Me. It was already a challenging show to film, but that process was made infinitely harder when Applegate was given her diagnosis of MS in 2021. This was while they were in the middle of filming the season. That meant she wouldn’t really be able to hide it from her coworkers, especially since the nature of shooting was suddenly going to have to fully shift around to accommodate for her progressing disease. Applegate talked about how she had to quickly call everyone she worked with and just announce that she had multiple sclerosis. Things were quickly made evident that they’d be vastly different when she started showing up to set in a wheelchair. In her interview with Variety, she didn’t give too many specifics as to the difficult logistics of filming the season, but she did admit that it was every bit as hard as one might imagine. But she and the Dead To Me cast and crew buckled down and did everything they could to make sure that not only was Christina comfortable, but that they still made an incredible show for all the fans.
She also talk about the psychological adjustment of realizing that people were now going to see her as a disabled person. She referred to that transition as being very difficult. Prior to the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony, Applegate had previewed it with a post on Twitter. She mentioned that it would be the first time she’d been seen in public since getting her terrible MS diagnosis. And, so it wouldn’t be as much of a shock to her fans and the media, she let people know that she was indeed forced to move around now using a cane. She even plugged the brand of canes she’s using, proving yet again that her sense of humor will continue to light the way as she struggles through her health issues.
Now it’s time to hear from you. Did you know about Christina Applegate’s diagnoses of MS? Do think she’ll have to retire from acting, or will we see her on the silver screen or big screen for years to come? Let us know in the comments section below!
