Christina Applegate is reportedly struggling to come to terms with the devastating discovery that she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), as doctors continue searching for an explanation for her worsening health.
The Dead to Me actress, 54, revealed earlier this week that she does not have MS after all, five years after publicly announcing she had been diagnosed with the neurological condition.
However, rather than offering relief, the revelation has reportedly left the Hollywood star frightened, confused and facing the prospect of starting her medical journey all over again.
A source close to Applegate has now claimed she is ‘spiraling’ as she struggles with the uncertainty surrounding her illness.
‘She’s living with this 24/7, she’s getting worse, and now she doesn’t even have a name for it. It’s horrific,’ the insider told the Daily Mail.
‘She is spiraling. She isn’t doing well at all.’
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According to the publication, Applegate was hospitalised in March after experiencing what she believed to be an agonising MS flare-up.
At the time, the actress was reportedly ‘basically immobile’ and had hoped doctors would be able to manage her symptoms with treatments including corticosteroids, plasma therapy, and physiotherapy.
Instead, she was confronted with the unexpected news that the condition she had spent years believing was responsible for her declining health was not MS.
She reportedly remained in hospital for four months before being discharged on August 3, with friends and family visiting her throughout her stay.
‘She went in with a game plan that they were going to manage this, and she came out with less answers, totally unsure,’ the source explained.
Applegate is now reportedly undergoing further investigations, including blood tests, MRI scans and appointments with specialists, in an attempt to identify the cause of her symptoms.
Another insider claimed the uncertainty has also affected her confidence in the medical professionals responsible for her care.
‘The last few years of her life now feel like a nightmare. She doesn’t know how to deal with it all and it’s exhausting having to explain to friends what she is going through,’ they said.
‘How can she trust any doctors anymore?’
The actress has reportedly considered legal action over the original diagnosis, although the source suggested that pursuing a lawsuit is far from her immediate priority.
For Applegate, the discovery has also brought an unexpected emotional complication: the feeling that she has somehow disappointed the community she spent years representing.
Since revealing her diagnosis in 2021, the Anchorman star has become a prominent advocate for people living with MS, speaking candidly about her experiences alongside fellow actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler on their podcast MeSsy.
During Tuesday’s episode, she admitted that discovering she had been misdiagnosed had left her feeling strangely guilty.
‘It’s weird because I feel like I let everybody down,’ she said, explaining that she and Sigler had become ‘the poster children for MS’.
But while her diagnosis has changed, the debilitating symptoms that forced her to step away from acting have not.
‘You don’t get misdiagnosed and then all of a sudden I’m better,’ she explained.
‘I haven’t gotten better! If anything, I’ve gotten worse. So I’m back at square one where I don’t know what’s going on with me.’
The actress became emotional as she reflected on how dramatically her health has changed her life.
‘I lost everything. I lost my job,’ she said through tears.
‘I still have to use wheelchairs when I go to the doctor’s office. I can’t walk from the car to the room.’
Applegate, who announced her retirement from on-screen acting in 2023, has reportedly been receiving support from loved ones and speaking with a therapist as she processes the news.
She is also said to be avoiding social media commentary about her condition, particularly speculation from strangers offering unsolicited diagnoses and treatments.
The source insisted that Applegate has already spent years searching for answers and does not need the public attempting to solve her medical mystery.
Speaking on MeSsy, neurologist Dr Marwa Kaisey explained that MS can be difficult to diagnose because there is no single definitive test for the condition.
For now, Applegate is left confronting an especially cruel uncertainty: the illness that has transformed her life remains very real, even if the explanation she was given for it was wrong.
‘Nothing magical happened when she said, “You don’t have MS”,’ Applegate told listeners.
‘Nothing magical happened.’