Emmy-winning actor Christina Applegate announced Tuesday that she had been misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a condition she believed she had for more than five years, leaving her “back at square one” as she continues to experience debilitating medical issues.
Applegate, who revealed the misdiagnosis on the latest episode of her podcast, “MeSsy,” broke down in tears as she recalled a doctor recently telling her: “Congratulations. You don’t have MS.” She said she was “not happy at all” about the news.
“You don’t get misdiagnosed and then all of a sudden I’m better,” Applegate told her co-host, “The Sopranos” actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler. “I haven’t gotten better, Jamie. If anything, I’ve gotten worse in some ways.”
“I’m back at square one, that I don’t know what’s going on with me,” said Applegate, who spent months in the hospital this year and recently took a break from co-hosting “MeSsy” with Sigler, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis roughly 25 years ago.
Christina Applegate says she was misdiagnosed with MS
Applegate disclosed that she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021, calling her medical ordeal “a tough road.” She received a standing ovation at the 2024 Emmy Awards, appearing onstage with a cane. In an interview that year, she said she lived “kind of in hell.”
Multiple sclerosis is a progressive disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information between the brain and the body. The immune system attacks the body’s nerve linings, producing unpredictable symptoms such as pain, fatigue or paralysis.
In the two-part podcast episode released Tuesday, Applegate said the lack of clarity about her medical condition was “unnerving” and “confusing.”
“It’s weird, because I feel like I let everybody down,” she told Sigler. “It’s this weird feeling, because I became this — you and I — the poster children for MS. ... I had a f---ing reason as to why my day sucked every day.”
She said her medical team will work to determine the underlying cause of her symptoms.
“Why did this happen? I had every symptom of someone with MS. Every single one,” Applegate said.
Applegate is best known for her television roles on Fox’s “Married ... with Children” and Netflix’s “Dead to Me.” She also appeared in both “Anchorman” movies as TV news anchor Veronica Corningstone. She has received eight Emmy nominations, winning in 2003 for her guest appearance on NBC’s “Friends.”
