Christina Applegate Opens Up About MS Struggles

Actress has detailed her battle with MS and body dysmorphia admitting: 'Sometimes the weight bothered me more than the disease.' 

The star, 54, was diagnosed with MS in 2021 and said that years ago, she was a size zero and looked like bone but that she was never satisfied with her body. 

Multiple sclerosis (known as MS) is a condition in which the immune system attacks the body and causes nerve damage to the brain and spinal cord. 

She said she had a defining moment in 2000, where she decided to have cheese with her salad and now 'her relationship with food is so much better than it ever was.'

When MS hit, she had to have 15 hours of steroid injections and gained 40lbs. She claimed: 'everything just went like a f***ing blob.' 

Two years later, when Christina was to receive her Hollywood star, she said didn't even look like herself anymore due to 'medications and the ravages of the disease.' 

'For all the joy of finally getting my star, it was still humiliating and horrible and devastating to be seen this way. Not just because I was bigger – that was one thing – but because the girl who had control all her life no longer had that control. 

'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 boobs. But now I knew they were staring not only because I was disabled; they were staring because I was fat, for ever an unacceptable fate for women in Hollywood. 

'Sometimes the weight bothered me more than the disease. I didn’t look in the mirror for a year. Then I was put on a clear‑liquid diet because of my stomach issues, and all of a sudden, everything just dropped off of me. Within seven months, all of it was gone, and I was down by 50 pounds or more. These days, my legs are tinier than they’ve ever been.'

Applegate has spoken candidly about her health issues throughout the years, which includes a bout with early stage breast cancer that saw her undergo a double mastectomy in 2008.

In 2017, Applegate discovered she had the BRCA1 gene mutation, which predisposes her to developing cancer. She opted to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed. 

Now, Christina's illness means she can't eat what she wants because she is prone to serious tummy issues that could put her in hospital. 

Despite this, she says she is now in a much healthier place when it comes to her relationship with food.

However, she says she has 'scary-looking legs' and no muscles, which means her bones aren't protected if she were to fall. 

But she says there is still that little voice in her head that she's 'really skinny and has the legs she has always wanted.' 

She concludes, 'this is the sickness. But she's not going to win.' 

 Applegate rose to prominence as a child actress at the age of 15, while starring as Al and Peggy's promiscuous daughter Kelly Bundy in the Fox sitcom Married with Children, which ran from 1987–1997.

She also received much acclaim for her portrayal of anchorwoman Veronica Corningstone in the 2004 comedy films Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie.

She is the recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award (for her guest role in the NBC sitcom Friends) and has received four Golden Globe Award nominations as well as one Tony Award nomination.

Christina Applegate's book, You With the Sad Eyes: A Memoir by Christina Applegate, is out on Tuesday.