Christina Applegate says she lies “in bed screaming” due to MS pain

Christina Applegate share the reality of how hard it is living with multiple sclerosis (MS), including the severe pain.

“I lay in bed screaming. Like, the sharp pains, the ache, the squeezing,” said the Dead To Me actress during Tuesday’s episode of her MeSsy podcast, which she hosts with The Sopranos star, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who also has MS.

Applegate added that she experiences pain “every single day” and has trouble doing tasks such as picking up her cellphone or the TV remote.

“I can’t open bottles now,” she said.

When Was Christina Applegate Diagnosed With MS?

The actress was diagnosed in 2021 with the autoimmune disease that can affect the brain and spinal cord. MS can cause a variety of symptoms such as mobility issues, partial or complete loss of vision and balance issues.

Earlier this year, she admitted to having “dark” thoughts and that she did not “enjoy living” because of the disease.

“This is being really honest: I don’t enjoy living. I don’t enjoy it,” Applegate said on an episode of the podcast released in June but had been recorded earlier in the year. “I don’t enjoy things anymore. You know, if someone can come over and lay in bed with me and talk, like you have… that’s enjoyable, I enjoy that. But, if someone’s like, ‘Let’s get up and go for a walk,’ or ‘Let’s go get a coffee,’ I don’t enjoy that process.”

After sparking concern among her fans after that podcast episode, Applegate returned later to clarify her meaning.

“I was talking about some dark stuff that I was thinking and feeling,” she said in June. “I feel like when we hold things in, we give them power. I also think that there’s so much shame a lot of people feel when they’re going through mental health issues… and when people hold those in, because they’re so afraid to say how they truly feel, we give it immense power.”

Applegate said it was critical to be able to talk about the disease even if it can be uncomfortable.

“By making such a big deal about it, you’re making other people think, ‘Oh, s***, I can’t talk about this.’ And that is not OK with me,” she said later in the podcast.

“It’s important to be able to say these things. And, no, I’m not sitting here on suicide watch, OK? I am not. Nor have I ever been,” Applegate added.

The 52-year-old star rose to fame playing the ditzy teenager, Kelly Bundy, on the sitcom Married… with Children for 10 years until 1997.