Christina Applegate Opens up About Life With Chronic Illness & Invites Others to Share ‘The Good, the Bad, the Ugly’ Stories

Feb 16, 2026 by apost team

Christina Applegate has never pretended that living with multiple sclerosis is anything but brutal. In 2021, Applegate was diagnosed with MS. The diagnosis came while she was shooting the final season of the dark comedy "Dead to Me" and proved to be a big blow to the actress.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, MS is a central nervous system disease that can cause muscle weakness, vision changes, numbness and memory issues. While there isn’t a cure, treatment options can help you manage symptoms and slow disease progression.

Applegate took to social media in August of the same year to announce the result to her fans. She wrote: "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 a**hole blocks it."

The actress, born in 1971, has repeatedly described MS as the “worst thing I've ever gone through.” The autoimmune disease, which affects the central nervous system, has altered nearly every aspect of her life.

On her podcast MeSsy, which she co-hosts with longtime friend and fellow actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Applegate speaks plainly about what that means. She has discussed everything from gastrointestinal struggles to mobility issues, and even how her illness has impacted her daughter, Sadie, born in 2011. There is no performance in the way she tells it. It is candid, sometimes darkly funny, and often raw.

Her bond with Sigler, who has lived with MS for more than two decades, has been central to her survival. Applegate told PEOPLE in 2024: “If I didn’t have her, I wouldn’t be able to do this life thing.” That friendship has given her both perspective and solidarity at a time when isolation can easily take hold.

Applegate will share more of her story in her upcoming memoir, “You With the Sad Eyes,” out March 3, 2026. She has made it clear that she does not have a blueprint for how to handle this disease. However, she does have experience and a willingness to speak candidly about it.

That honesty now has a new home. Applegate is launching an online platform called Next in MS, designed to help people living with the condition connect and share their experiences. She has said she plans to use the site to talk openly about what she has learned navigating life with MS.

In a video on the platform, she acknowledges her limits while still extending her hand outward. She says:

“I don’t have all the answers but I do believe in being informed, staying curious and moving forward together.”

In a press release announcing the initiative, she adds:

“Together hopefully we can reach more members of the MS community, cut through the noise and talk openly about the truths of living with MS — the challenging ones and the hopeful ones too.”

The tone is consistent with how she has approached the disease from the beginning. In a Super Bowl ad promoting the new site, she offered her unfiltered review of MS: “Zero stars. Would not recommend. It sucks! It suuuucks.” Applegate, who is partnering with pharmaceutical company TG Therapeutics on the platform, is urging others to speak just as freely. She invites people with MS to open up about “the good, the bad, the ugly, the in-betweens, the diapers, the things, whatever it is.”

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Have you followed Christina Applegate’s journey with MS? What can you say about her experience? Do you know someone who also experienced the same thing? Let us know, and pass this on to your family, friends, and other Applegate fans out there!