Christina Applegate shared a stunning revelation on her podcast on Tuesday: since 2021, she has been misdiagnosed with MS.
In a two-part installment of MeSsy with co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Applegate explained how new technology led to the recent discovery. Rather than bringing a sense of relief, however, the 54-year-old actress says the news left her devastated.
“This may come as great news, but to me, I’m back at square one. It’s hard to say that [my doctor] came into my room and she said, ‘Congratulations, you don’t have MS,” Applegate said.
“I was not happy at all,” she continued. “Everybody else was so happy. “You don’t get misdiagnosed and then all of the sudden I’m better. I haven’t gotten better. If anything, I’ve gotten worse in some ways. So I’m back at square one, that I don’t know what’s going on with me.”
Applegate said she still experiences “every symptom of someone with MS. Every single one,” but acknowledged the prevalence of misdiagnoses. “There’s a pretty damn high number of misdiagnoses with MS,” she noted. “It’s clear they’re finding something different.”
She also said the misdiagnosis has left her struggling with a sense of guilt after becoming a public face of MS. “It’s weird because I feel like I let everybody down. It’s this weird feeling because I became this — you and I, the poster children for MS,” she said. “Everything that I was doing — I had a reason. I had a fucking reason as to why my day sucked every day. And now I don’t have a reason and it’s very unnerving and it’s really confusing for me.”
“I’ve gone through a great depression because of it,” she added. “But, you know, I lost everything. I lost my job. God, I’m so sorry, I get really emotional because it stopped my life. I still have to use wheelchairs when I go to the doctor’s office. I can’t walk from the car to the room. I mean, I’m still in this. Nothing magical happened when she said, ‘You don’t have MS.’ Nothing magical happened.”
Due to her health issues, Applegate retired from acting in 2022.