Christina Applegate details side effect of MS that stopped her from looking in the mirror for a year
Christina Applegate has opened up one element of living with multiple sclerosis (MS) that stopped her from being able to look at herself.
The actor first opened up about her health struggles when she revealed in an X post in 2021, that read: "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**hole blocks it."
MS is an incurable chronic condition that impacts the spinal cord and nervous system, among other parts of the body, making it hard for people with it to function normally during their day-to-day routine.
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According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms of MS include problems with vision, arm or leg movements, sensation or balance, numbness, muscle stiffness, and also with thinking, learning and planning.
Applegate explained that because of her symptoms, she is largely confined to her bed, per her talk with People.
But through it all, there was a surprising side effect of her MS that had Applegate unable to look in the mirror, or even watch her performance in Dead to Me.
In a recent interview, the 51-year-old told The Los Angeles Times that after season three was released, she didn’t watch it until months later because she doesn’t like ‘seeing myself struggling’.
However, there’s another reason.
She said: "Also, I gained 40 lbs. because of inactivity and medications, and I didn't look like myself, and I didn't feel like myself."
However, she revealed that she was ‘able to distance myself from my own ego, and realize what a beautiful piece of television it was’ and enjoy the scenes she wasn’t part of, calling them 'so much fun to see and experience for the very first time.’
She added of her career: "It's my last awards show as an actor probably, so it's kind of a big deal.
"Right now, I couldn't imagine getting up at 5 a.m. and spending 12 to 14 hours on a set; I don't have that in me at this moment."
According to Yahoo! she also struggled with her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in 2022, explaining: "I want to throw up when I think of the pictures that are out there of me. I look sad and embarrassed. Because all I can think is: Everyone is staring. Once people stared at my b****. But now I knew they were staring not only because I was disabled; they were staring because I was fat, forever an unacceptable fate for women in Hollywood."
She continued: "Sometimes the weight bothered me more than the disease. I didn't look in the mirror for a year."
Applegate has long spoken about the struggles she has endured with MS, explaining on the Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa podcast last year that it was her daughter Sadie that was keeping her going.
"I don't get up in the morning with that, I get up because of her. She's the reason I'm still here and trying," she admitted.
She added: "But she did say to me, and we got into a big thing the other day, and sorry Sadie, but it has to be said. She said, 'I missed who you were before you got sick'.
"That is just like a knife to the heart because I miss who I was before I got sick too. Very much."
In her new memoir, titled You With The Sad Eyes, the actress also revealed that her ‘dedication to life’ is Sadie.
What are the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS)?
Like with any illness, symptoms can differ from person to person but here are the most common side effects of MS according to Mayo Clinic:
- Numbness or tingling.
- Electric-shock sensations that happen with certain neck movements, especially bending the neck forward. This sensation is called Lhermitte sign.
- Lack of coordination.
- Trouble with walking or not being able to walk at all.
- Weakness.
- Partial or complete loss of vision, usually in one eye at a time. Vision loss often happens with pain during eye movement.
- Double vision.
- Blurry vision.
- Dizziness and a false sense that you or your surroundings are moving, known as vertigo.
- Trouble with sexual, bowel and bladder function.
- Fatigue.
- Slurred speech.
- Troubles with memory, thinking and understanding information.
- Mood changes
Topics: Health, Christina Applegate, Celebrity
Britt Jones