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Emmy-nominated actor Christina Applegate has revealed that she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis — a condition she believed she had for more than five years. Applegate made the announcement on Tuesday during the latest episode of her podcast, MeSsy, breaking down in tears as she described the moment a doctor told her she did not have MS. Rather than feeling relieved, she said the news left her feeling lost and “back at square one.”
A Diagnosis She Lived With for Years
Applegate first disclosed her MS diagnosis publicly in 2021. She described her medical journey as “a tough road.” In 2024, she appeared at the Emmy Awards on stage with a cane and received a standing ovation. Around that time, she told interviewers she was living “kind of in hell.”
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For years, Applegate believed MS explained her debilitating symptoms. However, a doctor recently told her otherwise. She recalled the moment on her podcast, saying the doctor told her: “Congratulations. You don’t have MS.” She said she was “not happy at all” about hearing those words.
“You don’t get misdiagnosed and then all of a sudden I’m better,” Applegate told her podcast co-host, The Sopranos actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler. “I haven’t gotten better, Jamie. If anything, I’ve gotten worse in some ways.”
Searching for Answers
Applegate said the lack of clarity about her condition is “unnerving” and “confusing.” She spent months in hospital earlier this year and recently took a break from co-hosting MeSsy. Sigler, her co-host, received her own MS diagnosis roughly 25 years ago.
Applegate also expressed a complicated sense of loss after the misdiagnosis came to light. “It’s weird because I feel like I let everybody down,” she told Sigler. “You and I became the poster children for MS. I had a reason as to why my day sucked every day.” She said her medical team will now work to identify the true underlying cause of her symptoms.
Multiple sclerosis is a progressive disease of the central nervous system. It disrupts communication between the brain and the body. The immune system attacks the protective lining around nerves, producing unpredictable symptoms that can include pain, fatigue and paralysis.
A Career Defined by Iconic Roles
Applegate built her career across decades of television and film. She is best known for her role on Fox’s Married with Children and later starred in Netflix’s Dead to Me. She also appeared in both Anchorman films, playing TV news anchor Veronica Corningstone.
Throughout her career, Applegate earned eight Emmy nominations in total. She won the award in 2003 for her guest appearance on NBC’s Friends. Despite her health struggles in recent years, she has remained a prominent and respected figure in the entertainment industry.
The two-part podcast episode featuring Applegate’s revelation aired on Tuesday. Her medical team has not yet publicly identified a new diagnosis to replace the one she carried for more than five years.
