Topics: Christina Applegate, Health, Mental Health, Celebrity
Christina Applegate has given a heartbreaking update about her health after struggling for almost five years with an autoimmune condition.
The 53-year-old Golden Globe-nominated actress has given a candid update about her physical health after revealing in 2021 she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).
MS is an autoimmune condition that affects the brain and spinal chord, the central nervous system, with no cure available, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Taking to Instagram over the weekend, the Jesse star revealed in a video that she can sometimes suffer a flare-up of the brutal condition when she is stressed.
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In the clip, Applegate can be seen standing and staring off into the distance while she makes a rude gesture with her hand, appearing to swear to the camera.
"For people who don’t understand MS," she penned in the caption. "When we get stressed or upset our symptoms get worse. I had something happen to me on Friday and I have fallen like 5 times.
"Legs are busted. So if you know someone with a disease like this, maybe think…"
Her insight comes as Applegate told fans she had been diagnosed with the debilitating condition in early 2021, which stalled production of Netflix's Dead to Me while she started treatment.
The mom-of-one went on to reveal in December last year that she realized she started to experience one of her very first early symptoms of MS while filming the pilot for the comedy.
While running as her character Jen, Applegate said she remembered 'falling that day'.
"Hi, first sign of MS!" she said on the MeSsy podcast with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, whom was also diagnosed with MS when working on The Sopranos.
Dead to Me producer Liz Feldman then added: "I remember you losing your balance a couple of times but it was very hard to figure out.
"I remember one time it was like really late at night, we’d been shooting probably 14 or 15 hours, it seemed completely reasonable that anybody would be collapsing."
The 48-year-old writer continued: "There’s no handbook for this. I could just sense that A, she was scared and B, that something was wrong, something in her body was not working the way that she wanted it to.
"I told her so many times that it’s just a TV show; we’re making a TV show and it’s so silly, you know, at the end of the day!
"I knew Christina well enough to know that something major had to be going on because she’s an extreme professional."
Following her diagnosis, Applegate also said on the podcast that her mental health plummeted until the point of facing a 'real f***-it-all depression' that's 'scaring me too a little bit because it feels really fatalistic, it feels really end of'.
"I don’t mean that but I’m trapped in this darkness right now that I haven’t felt in probably 20-something years," she continued. "I don’t enjoy living. I don’t enjoy it. I don’t enjoy things anymore."
Meanwhile, fans have flocked to the comments on her social media, sending her 'positive thoughts' and dozens of well-wishes.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 to reach a 24-hour crisis center or you can webchat at 988lifeline.org. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.
