Christina Applegate said she questioned if she was dying when she was unable to move due to “intense pain” during a multiple sclerosis (MS) relapse.
The 52-year-old Dead To Me actress said she could not leave her bed for three weeks due to the pain, ahead of a recording of her podcast MeSsy With Christina Applegate & Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
Applegate described moments where she could not move, saying on the latest episode: “(I wonder) am I dying? I can’t see, I can’t walk, I can’t breathe.”
She added she was struggling to get out of bed because “if no-one is with me, I’m going to fall”. Because of her inability to move, she had not showered in three weeks and used wipes to keep herself clean.
On the day of taping the podcast, the Bad Moms star also revealed she had not slept for 24 hours, because involuntary eye movements were keeping her awake.
Representatives for Applegate told People the recording occurred “months ago”.
New episode of MeSsy today. Jamie and I get quite deep about life’s struggles. Not just because of MS, but because it’s hard. And how many people don’t want to hear your “ woe is me”. Go to Spotify or Apple Podcasts etc pic.twitter.com/4CIHuRR9fk
— christina applegate (@1capplegate) April 2, 2024
Speaking on the podcast, she said: “It could be damage to the optic nerve.
“It’s a little scary (that my eye could) burst out of my face.”
Applegate previously revealed on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast that she has 30 lesions on her brain, the biggest of which is behind her right eye.
The actress said she contacted her doctor about her relapse but had not received a response by the time she was making the recording.
During the relapse, she also experienced a lack of energy, increased tingling in her lower body, and an inability to stop her legs hurting.
“My legs have never been this bad,” she said. “Legs are just done. I can’t get circulation.”
In August 2021, Applegate revealed on Twitter (now X) that she has MS, which is an autoimmune condition in which the immune system mistakes the body for a foreign substance and attacks it.
In December the following year, she spoke on The Kelly Clarkson Show about how her legs had stopped working on the set of Dead To Me and that is what prompted her to see a doctor.
On her podcast, Applegate spoke about using a heated pad to relieve the pain in her limbs. She also described an instance a few weeks earlier where she had got third degree burns from using the heated pad and ended up with “a blister the size of two grapes”.
It is not yet known if the recording took place before or after she attended the 2024 Emmys in January while using a cane, or if the actress was in the relapse phase during this time.