Christina Applegate has opened up about her career possibly ending amid her battle with multiple sclerosis (MS).

The actress, 51, is best known for her role as Kelly Bundy in the sitcom Married... With Children as well as a successful movie career.

The Golden Globe nominee revealed in August 2021 that she had been diagnosed with MS a few months earlier, which had affected her ability to perform.

Adjustments were made to her filming schedule to allow her to complete the final season of Dead To Me thanks to her co-star Linda Cardellini and showrunner Liz Feldman, but the actress has revealed that she is likely to retire from appearing on camera in the wake of her condition.

Christina Applegate received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last year. Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for NetflixApplegate opened up about the "possible end" of her career on screen while discussing the people she chose to surround her as she received her star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame last November.

She was joined by her husband and daughter, and heard tributes from her Married... With Children co-stars Katey Sagal and David Faustino, as well as Dead To Me's Cardellini and Feldman.

Applegate told Variety: "There was no mistake as to who I asked to speak, kind of my beginning and my… my possible end. That was really important to me. It was about where I came from and where I landed."

While she acknowledges that having MS makes performing more difficult - she is not resigned to retiring completely just yet.

Applegate reminisced on the best experiences she has had in her 40-year career in Hollywood, explaining: "[Samantha Who?] was the most fun I had ever had. Dead to Me has that place in my heart now. But after Samantha Who?, I never thought I would have another experience like that ever again.

"The cast and the crew were sublime. The stars aligned and we were gifted this moment in time. When it was canceled, I cried in bed for, like, a month."

She credits Liz Feldman (left) and Linda Cardellini (right) with helping her get through the final series of Dead To Me. Credit: Phillip Faraone/Getty ImagesApplegate made sure to carry as many of the cast and crew with her into future projects, including Mitch Cohn from the Netflix show's sound department, who would hold her legs steady out of shot during doorway scenes on Dead To Me when she was struggling to stand on her own due to the effects of MS.

Addressing her uncertain future, Applegate also shared her gratitude to how accommodating the Dead To Me cast and crew were to allow her to continue working on the show.

She admitted: "We don’t know what my future as an actress is going to be. How can I handle it? How can I go onto a set and call the shots of what I need as far as my boundaries, physically? I don’t know who is going to be as loving and understanding as this group of people were."

While she is contemplating leaving on-screen acting behind, Applegate revealed that she would still be taking on voice acting roles and developing projects behind the scenes, as well as starting a podcast with another friend who has MS.

She revealed that she finally managed to watch back the last series of Dead To Me but could "see the excruciating pain I was in every day I was there and I didn’t want to relive it."

Applegate added that she was grateful to Feldman for trusting she "had it in [her]" to complete the project, which she now sees is a "beautiful piece of work".

She is also thankful to have co-starred alongside Cardellini, adding: "If this is my last job, thank God it was with her."

Featured image credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images

Christina Applegate has revealed a tiny symptom that she experienced that first signaled that she had multiple sclerosis -- years before her official diagnosis.

The actress, 54 - who is perhaps best known for roles in shows like Dead to Me and Married... with Children - went public with having MS in 2021, having been diagnosed a few months beforehand.

The effects of the condition - a lifelong condition that impacts the central nervous system - meant that she struggled while filming the third and final season of Dead To Me.

However, she has since revealed the "tiny" signs of the disease which she'd ignored up to seven years before she was finally diagnosed.

During a previous interview with Good Morning America, the actress opened up about the signs she noticed early on, alongside her long-time friend Jamie-Lynn Sigler - who is also battling the condition.

“I probably had [MS] for six or seven years, I think,” Applegate says. “I noticed, especially the first season [of Dead to Me], we’d be shooting and my leg would buckle. I really just put it off as being tired, or I’m dehydrated, or it’s the weather.

"Then nothing would happen for months, and I didn’t pay attention. But when it hit this hard, I had to pay attention."

Watch the interview below:

The actress became emotional when she revealed that by the end of shooting the season, she relied on a wheelchair to bring her to set.

"My symptoms had started in the early part of 2021, and it was, like, literally just tingling on my toes," Applegate told Robin Roberts.

"And by the time we started shooting in the summer of that same year, I was being brought to set in a wheelchair. Like, I couldn’t walk that far," she added, referring to her hit Netflix show Dead To Me.

She also stated that even though she's in "excruciating pain", she's "used to it now."

Applegate initially opened up about her MS diagnosis during an interview with the New York Times.

At the time, she was still filming the third and final season of Dead To Me, though it was extremely difficult to continue with the project after she started her treatment.

"There was the sense of, 'Well, let’s get her some medicine so she can get better,'" she said. "And there is no better. But it was good for me. I needed to process my loss of my life, my loss of that part of me. So I needed that time."

However, she also emphasized that she had a "duty" to her work.

I had an obligation to Liz and to Linda, to our story," she said, despite show bosses apparently wanting to cease filming when she started receiving treatment.

"If people hate it, if people love it, if all they can concentrate on is, 'Ooh, look at the cripple,' that’s not up to me," she added. "But hopefully people can get past it and just enjoy the ride and say goodbye to these two girls."

Back in 2022, she also told singer-turned-talk-show-host Kelly Clarkson that she tends to use her job as an actress to distract her from her real-life problems.

"I've probably been going through grief and trauma my whole life, and acting was the place that I got to go to not feel it, you know?", she said at the time, noting that she used acting to avoid dealing with past breakups, trauma, deaths, and breast cancer.

She continued: "The beauty of Dead to Me is that it gave me almost this weird platform of dealing with it, where I didn't have to be on all the time and I didn't have to make all the jokes and I could fall apart in a scene.

"And it was, like, me. It was my soul actually falling apart, unfortunately, in front of the world, but it was cathartic in a beautiful way," she concluded.

Christina Applegate's grit and resilience is truly an inspiration to us all!

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Christina Applegate has spoken candidly about her struggles with multiple sclerosis upon turning 50.

The Dead to Me star took to Twitter earlier this week to share an emotional post to mark her recent birthday, and open up about her health battles.

Applegate first announced her diagnosis back in August and has since said that the ensuing journey has been "strange" and a "tough road."

"Yup. I turned 50 today. And I have MS. It’s been a hard one. Sending so much love to all of you this day. Many are hurting today, and I am thinking of you. May we find that strength to lift our heads up. Mine currently is on my pillow. But I try," Applegate wrote on Twitter, earlier this week.

Back on August 10, the actor shared that she had received an MS diagnosis. "Hi friends. A few months ago I was diagnosed with MS. 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 asshole blocks it," she wrote.

"As one of my friends that has MS said 'we wake up and take the indicated action'. And that’s what I do. So now I ask for privacy. As I go through this thing. Thank you xo," Applegate continued.

According to the NHS, multiple sclerosis (MS), is a condition that can affect the brain and spinal cord. This may cause a wide array of symptoms, including issues with eyesight, sensation, balance, or limb movement.

In rare cases, the lifelong condition can cause a serious disability — though it can also be experienced mildly.

"In many cases, it's possible to treat symptoms. Average life expectancy is slightly reduced for people with MS," the NHS website reads. "It's most commonly diagnosed in people in their 20s and 30s, although it can develop at any age. It's about 2 to 3 times more common in women than men."

Featured image credit: Kathy Hutchins / Alamy

Christina Applegate has revealed further details about her daily struggles after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

The 52-year-old, best known for her role as Jen Harding in Netflix's hit show Dead To Me, opened up about her battle with the degenerative condition in a new episode of Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast after going public with her diagnosis in 2021.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a condition that affects the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves and those with the disease can experience a wide range of symptoms including extreme fatigue, depression, mobility issues, and sexual dysfunction.

While some may be able to get into remission, where no new symptoms present themselves, others have to live with daily struggles - struggles that Applegate has opened up about in a new interview.

"This is the worst thing that's happened to me in my entire life," she said on the March 25 podcast episode. "I have 30 lesions on my brain. My biggest one is behind my right eye, so my right eye hurts a lot."

Applegate also stated that sometimes "my hand starts to go weird and then I'll get a seizure-y feeling sometimes in my brain."

"It sucks," the actress added. "I hate it so much. I'm so mad about it."

Elsewhere in the interview she also discussed how her attitude towards pretending to be okay about her illness has changed especially compared to when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 36.

"I learned that lesson the hard way because in 2008, when I had breast cancer at 36 years old, I went out, and I was the good girl talking about 'Oh, I love my new boobs' that are all scarred and f***** up. What was I thinking?" she said.

"My first interview was with Robin Roberts when I had cancer, and I'm sitting there lying my ass off about how I felt," continued Applegate, before adding that she couldn't help but sob about it after the cameras stopped rolling.

"Everything I was saying was a freaking lie," she told Shepard. "It was me trying to convince myself of something, and I think that did no service to anyone."

"Yes, I started a foundation right away. Yes, I did all the things that I had to do, and we raised millions of dollars for women to get MRIs who were at high risk. Yes, we did a good thing, but at the back of it, I was taking off my bra and crying every night. And I wish that I had said that," she added.

Watch Applegate get candid about her struggles with MS below

Applegate is honest and raw about her feelings towards MS, previously telling PEOPLE about the most difficult symptoms she is forced to deal with.

"Well, you pee...in your pants," she said. "Because you probably can’t get to the bathroom in time. So yeah, diapers."

But even with the physical changes, the star's humor has been left untouched as she added that there are some benefits to having the condition.

"But there are some benefits to MS. First of all, parking is awesome," Applegate said, before Sigler added: "There could be a cure for MS, and I will not give up my handicap placard. We earned it!"

"And wheelchair seating - awesome. Pre-board - awesome. Wheelchair through the entire airport..." the Netflix star added to the list.

We're glad to see that Applegate is still doing what she does best: keeping it raw and real. We wish her all the best in her health journey.

Featured Image Credit: Amy Sussman/Getty

Christina Applegate has opened up about the harsh reality of living with multiple sclerosis.

In 2021, the Dead to Me star was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis - a lifelong autoimmune disease that disrupts communication between the brain and nerves throughout the body.

The condition can lead to a range of debilitating symptoms, including persistent numbness, vision issues, and, in some cases, paralysis.

Now 53, Applegate has revealed that the disease has come to define her daily life. During a recent appearance on the Making Space podcast with Hoda Kotb, she gave a raw and emotional update on her health, describing her experience as a "nightmare".

“I am defined by it right now,” she said. “I'm three and a half years in. I have days where I can't even walk to the bathroom, so I am defined by it.”

The Emmy-winning actress didn’t hold back about the emotional toll of living with the neurological disease.

“I'm angry at it still, and there’s a lot of us out there who are newly diagnosed that are not quite ready to accept this reality,” she said. “I keep thinking that I’m just going to wake up from this nightmare, and it’s just going to be over.”

She also confessed that she feels like her symptoms are progressing: “I want to do these things, and I can't, and it feels like I'm getting worse. And that’s disheartening.”

Still, Applegate's holding on to a sliver of hope. “But then there's like this voice inside of me that is like, 'You've got to believe in a miracle. You've got to believe in another side of this.'"

On the episode, Married... with Children alum was joined by her MeSsy podcast co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who has been living with MS for over 20 years.

Despite their shared experiences, Applegate admitted she doesn’t always feel like a source of strength. “I feel like I'm not very inspiring,” she said.

“If someone listening to me goes, 'Oh my God, I feel that way, and I feel like I'm not doing it right.' There is no doing MS right," she explained, to which Sigler agreed with her instantly: “No, there's not.”

She also described how everyday tasks have become physically exhausting - using a recent trip to the dentist as a painful example.

"I went to go to the dentist yesterday, and it was a half-an-hour appointment, and it was like the most miserable hour and a half of my life," Applegate said. "Just getting down my stairs, getting into the car, getting into the parking lot, getting into the elevator, going into the office, like the whole thing was not even an hour and a half."

"And by the time I got home, I was like, 'I can't move anymore.' And that's, that's the stuff that makes me (say) that I can't accept it yet because I'm mad still," she added

Sigler had similar raw emotions to Applegate when she was first diagnosed with MS but felt hesitant to express them.

“They were feelings that I didn’t think - I wouldn't allow myself to feel or didn’t think I deserve to feel for way too long,” she said. “So I think in the beginning of her journey with this, for her to be able to express herself like this, I admire.” 

Featured image credit: Phillip Faraone / Getty