Co-Star Updates on Christina Applegates MS Battle

's Married... With Children co-star David Faustino has given an update on how the actress is doing amid her battle with Multiple Sclerosis.

The actress told Faustino, who played Bud Bundy on the popular sitcom, that 'it's extremely difficult' to manage MS, the lifelong autoimmune condition, which she was diagnosed with in 2021.

MS can cause issues including muscle weakness, vision changes and numbness.

'It's extremely difficult for me to understand having a debilitating disease,' Faustino, 52, told Us Weekly. 'I can't. I don't know what that's like. I can only go from her experience and what she's told me.

'I admire her being strong in the face of this, even though it's been a real blow.'

He added that despite being so ill, she still manages to crack jokes: 'It's been very hard for her, but she does keep her humor.'

Applegate has not been seen in public much in the past few years. 

The star's last major red carpet appearance was at the 29th Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards in February 2023. 

The actor recalled that 54-year-old Christina - who is largely confined to her bedroom because of her MS - had a 'dry, sarcastic sense of humor since the moment I met her' on Married... With Children.

And Faustino said that 'nothing has changed' with the Kelly Bundy actress still 'extremely sarcastic, extremely dry.'

He added: 'She gets through this with some humor, and that's kind of her way that she moves through it.'

The entertainer noted he is 'there as a support, as a person on her team that gives her as much love as I can.'

Faustino and Applegate have kept in touch since Married... With Children wrapped in 1997 after 10 years, even more so since her MS diagnosis in 2021.

He said: 'I do a lot of visits with her. A lot of texting, a lot of checking in. A lot of funny just crap that we talk about. And that's all I can do, right? Give her my love.

'We do have deep convos when we sit. But we also keep the laughter [going] as well.'

In April, TMZ reported that Christina was 'admitted' to a Los Angeles hospital in 'late March' for an unknown reason.

Shortly after the article was published, Applegate took to Instagram and said she is 'getting stronger and better every day.'

In a statement, the Vacation star penned: 'Thank you for the outpouring of love and well wishes.

'Health issues are a constant for me, but I'm a strong chick, and I'm getting stronger and better every day. I'm taking a moment to focus on my health, but I'll be back with more to say soon enough.'

In March 2025, the star revealed she ended up in hospital more than 30 times with 'unimaginable' pain with her MS.

Speaking on her and 45-year-old actress-and-singer Jamie Lynn Sigler's MesSY podcast, the Bad Moms alum explained: 'This is really important because for three years, since I was diagnosed, I've been in the hospital upwards of 30 times from throwing up, diarrhea and pain that is unimaginable.

'They've done every test known to man on me, put so much radiation into my body from CT scans to everything else.'