By Ozlem Evans
Today’s Monday will be a bittersweet day for the TV star…
On the one hand, a big dream comes true for Christina Applegate (50), on the other hand, it is her debut in public as a “disabled person”, as the US actress now says herself in a new interview.
The ‘Awfully Nice Family’ star suffers from multiple sclerosis (MS), an insidious autoimmune disease that, depending on the course, can cause severe mobility problems. Applegate was diagnosed in 2021 and had to adjust to her new life quickly — despite being in the midst of filming her Netflix series Dead To Me!
“I didn’t know what was happening to me,” Applegate recalls in the “Variety” interview of the first symptoms in early 2021. “In January my toes went numb and I ignored it. The balls of my feet went numb and I ignored it. All of a sudden I started to fall over.”
And although she was able to take a few months off, she returned to the set. Because she wanted to finish the last season of her series.
Christina Applegate’s cult role as Kelly Bundy: she played for 11 seasons between 1987 and 1997 alongside Katey Sagal, Ed O’Neill, David Faustino (from left) in “A Terribly Nice Family” Photo: picture alliance/United Archives
Applegate: “Now they had to take me to the set in a wheelchair because I couldn’t walk. I slept the whole time and gained 18 kilos – a lot has happened.”
“I can’t do those 18-hour days anymore, you know?” Applegate continues. “It was impossible. They (the film crew, editor’s note) were so loving. If I called them in the morning and said, ‘Guys, I can’t come down the stairs,’ they said, ‘Ok! We’re shooting other stuff.’”
Another reason Christina is dying to finish this season is that she doesn’t know if she’ll ever be able to be in front of the camera again…
“And then, of course, Jen Harding (her role in the Netflix series, ed. ed.) is the one who’s – who knows, probably the last one I’ll play. With my illness, I don’t know how capable I am.”
The actress continued, “It’s about figuring out what I can (…) It takes time to kind of understand this disease and figure out what’s causing symptoms.”
In order to be able to shoot the last season of “Dead To Me”, Christina Applegate (left) had to be supported Photo: picture alliance/Saeed Adyani/Netflix via AP
Her focus now: health and her family – Christina has an 11-year-old daughter.
Applegate: “Now I enjoy being a mother. I love being there for her 100 percent of the time – taking her to school, picking her up from school, being there for her homework, making her dinner, being there when she needs me. I missed that for a while.”