{"id":515183,"date":"2026-03-05T04:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T04:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/515183\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T04:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T04:03:11","slug":"married-with-children-star-reveals-red-flag-symptom-from-years-before-her-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/515183\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Married…With Children\u2019 Star Reveals Red-Flag Symptom From Years Before Her Diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before Emmy-winning actress Christina Applegate, 54, received her multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis in June 2021, there were subtle warning signs that something was amiss.<\/p>\n

The beloved Married…With Children star detailed her journey with the autoimmune disease in her newly released memoir, You With the Sad Eyes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Katy<\/p>\n

Katy Sagal, David Faustino, and Christina Applegate in a promotional image for ‘Married With Children,’ circa 1987.<\/p>\n

Aaron Rapoport\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Applegate wrote<\/a> that there were early warning signs of the condition years before she received the diagnosis, including a particularly odd one: her toes kept twitching.<\/p>\n

The symptom initially appeared innocuous but, upon reflection, suggested a potential neurological problem.<\/p>\n

Get a First Look<\/p>\n

Sign up to receive news and updates from The Looker<\/p>\n

MS is a chronic neurological and autoimmune condition that can drastically worsen over time. There are multiple forms<\/a>, but the symptoms generally include (but are not limited to) mobility issues, numbness or tingling, weakness throughout the body, debilitating fatigue, and vision issues.<\/p>\n

Many patients, including Applegate and fellow actress Selma Blair<\/a>, report experiencing difficulty when walking and often rely on a cane.<\/p>\n

\"Christina<\/p>\n

Christina Applegate poses with her daughter, Sadie Grace LeNoble, at the 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles in 2023.<\/p>\n

Gilbert Flores\/Gilbert Flores\/Variety via Getty Images<\/p>\n

She recalled a moment when she asked her chiropractor about it. \u201cI\u2019ll never forget the look he gave me. \u2018My mom has that,\u2019 he said before quickly changing the subject. \u2018Let\u2019s work on some other stuff,\u2019\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

She co-hosts MeSsy with Christina Applegate & Jamie Lynn Sigler<\/a>, a podcast with Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who also has MS, where the pair share their experiences with the chronic illness.<\/p>\n

On a 2024 episode of the podcast, Applegate said the first signs appeared during the filming of the pilot episode for her comedy series Dead to Me in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember falling that day,\u201d she said, and Liz Feldman, the creator of the show and a guest on the episode, added that she remembered Applegate losing her balance \u201ca couple of times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Linda<\/p>\n

Linda Cardellini and Christina Applegate in ‘Dead to Me.’<\/p>\n

As Applegate\u2019s symptoms progressed, including numbness spreading to her extremities, the award-winning actress began seeking answers by undergoing medical tests.<\/p>\n

One Monday morning, while Applegate was filming the third and final season of Dead to Me in 2021, a doctor called her on Zoom and showed her a scan of her brain with 30 lesions.<\/p>\n

Applegate kept pushing through the shoots, though she recalled one occasion when she had to miss a day. <\/p>\n

\u201cI remember trying to get down the stairs of my house at six o\u2019clock in the morning, and I could make it to only the ninth stair,\u201d Applegate writes in You With the Sad Eyes<\/a>, as reported by the New York Post<\/a>. After the diagnosis, her symptoms worsened: \u201cThe pain I felt initially was not like it is these days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Christina<\/p>\n

Christina Applegate won the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy Award in 2003 for her role as Rachel Green\u2019s sister Amy Green in “Friends.” Here on set with Jennifer Aniston.<\/p>\n

NBC\/Danny Feld\/NBCU Photo\/Bank Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cBack then, it was more of an I\u2010have\u2010no\u2010strength kind of pain, rather than the often excruciating agony I\u2019m in now. When I wake up, I often can\u2019t get my arm to move far enough to grab the cup of water by my bed or my phone from its charger. My stomach frequently slows to a halt, leaving me to regularly rush to the emergency room in agony,\u201d Applegate says in her memoir.<\/p>\n

She continues, \u201cMy knees feel like I have bricks attached to them, heavy and painful. When I put my feet down on the ground when I wake up, it feels as if the floor is made of needles, yet I can\u2019t feel them because my feet are completely numb.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Christina<\/p>\n

Christina Applegate arriving onstage during the 75th Emmy Awards in Los Angeles in 2024.<\/p>\n

VALERIE MACON\/Valerie Macon \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

She compares the condition to earlier health issues: breaking her foot in 2005 and undergoing a double mastectomy after receiving a diagnosis for early-stage breast cancer in 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith my broken metatarsal, well, a broken bone heals. With the cancer, it was taken out of my body, and I was able to move on. But MS is my constant companion. In fact, I will probably go away because of it. It scares me to death,\u201d she writes in the book.<\/p>\n

The comedy star still finds opportunities for humor, even in her darkest moments, writing, \u201cDiapers are very MS chic because many of us have incontinence issues. So fun! But at least they make black ones now. So if you really want to know how I am: I had to pull s–t out of my own a– earlier today because of my disease. Oh, and I fell.\u201d<\/p>\n

During an interview with Good Morning America<\/a> on Tuesday, the actress said that her diagnosis \u201cstill sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who tells you different, they\u2019re not telling you the truth,\u201d Applegate told host Robin Roberts, adding that there are no \u201cgreat days\u201d with the condition. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhere am I with acceptance?\u201d she said. \u201cNot at all. I hate it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Her memoir also contains revelations unrelated to her health, including that she once ditched Hollywood\u2019s number-one heartthrob at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards.<\/p>\n

\"Christina<\/p>\n

Christina Applegate and Brad Pitt in 1988.<\/p>\n

After inviting a baby-faced Brad Pitt to the VMAs, Applegate was pleased to find that the actor, now 62, acted like a perfect gentleman. However, thanks to a confidence-boosting gown and a moment of youthful brazenness, she ultimately chose to leave with the frontman of metal band Skid Row.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt so powerful and sure of myself for once that when the awards show was over, I left with Sebastian Bach, not Brad Pitt,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI had spent all night staring at Bach, who was then a long-haired hunk fronting the band Skid Row. I hate to put it like this, but Brad back then was still making his way as an actor, and he wasn\u2019t yet THE Brad Pitt, the man of so many people\u2019s dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before Emmy-winning actress Christina Applegate, 54, received her multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis in June 2021, there were subtle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,5484,8745,75,84,890,40391,204066,14165,127319,406],"class_list":["post-515183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-christina-applegate","tag-disease","tag-entertainment","tag-health","tag-lifestyle","tag-looker","tag-m-s","tag-multiple-sclerosis","tag-the-looker","tag-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}