Actress Christina Applegate has been open about her struggles with multiple sclerosis, which she was diagnosed with back in 2021 — but evidently, her symptoms had already been present two years prior.
In a new episode of Applegate’s Messy podcast — which she co-hosts with fellow actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who is also living with MS — Applegate spoke in conversation with Dead to Me creator Liz Feldman, revealing that she first began experiencing MS symptoms in 2019 as they were filming the pilot of the Netflix dark comedy.
“I remember falling that day,” said Applegate in the podcast episode, which dropped on Tuesday, December 10, quipping: “Hi, first sign of MS!”
Feldman also remembered this moment, but she felt it was par for the course for filming such intense scenes.
“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,” said Feldman.
Applegate received her official diagnosis while filming the show’s third season, but says she was able to make it through thanks to the support of the Dead to Me cast and crew, who adjusted scenes to make filming more comfortable for her.
The Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead actress has retired from acting since her MS diagnosis and the end of Dead to Me, but has expressed gratitude to the friends and family she formed during her time on the show.
“That would not happen anywhere else,” said Applegate. “So my gratitude towards you guys being humans — because you should be humans and love other humans! — is, like, I can’t even tell you, that’s not the normal reaction!”