Why Christina Applegate Feels Like Her MS Is Getting Worse

While appearing on Wednesday’s episode of Hoda Kotb’s Making Space podcast, the actress — who was diagnosed with MS in 2021 — shared that she’s “defined” by the disease, and feels like she’s “getting worse,” comparing her experience to a “nightmare.”

“I am defined by it right now,” Applegate, 53, said. “I’m three and a half years in. I have days where I can’t even walk to the bathroom, so I am defined by it.”

“I’m angry at it still, and there’s a lot of us out there who are newly diagnosed that are not quite ready to accept this reality,” she continued. “I keep thinking that I’m just going to wake up from this nightmare, and it’s just going to be over.”

“I want to do these things, and I can’t, and it feels like I’m getting worse. And that’s disheartening,” Applegate added. “But then there’s like this voice inside of me that is like, ‘You’ve got to believe in a miracle. You’ve got to believe in another side of this.'”

The Dead to Me star — who appeared on the podcast alongside her MeSsy cohost Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who has battled MS for over 20 years — said that she feels that she’s “not very inspiring” at the moment.

“If someone listening to me goes, ‘Oh my God, I feel that way, and I feel like I’m not doing it right.’ There is no doing MS right,'” Applegate said, to which Sigler agreed, “No, there’s not.”

The Married… with Children alum first announced her multiple sclerosis diagnosis — a “potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system),” per the Mayo Clinic — in August 2021. According to Mayo Clinic, MS can cause symptoms such as weakness, numbness, trouble walking, and vision changes.

Since revealing her diagnosis, Applegate has continued to open up about her battle with the disease, including on her and Sigler’s podcast.

During Wednesday’s appearance on Kotb’s podcast, she detailed the struggles she goes through on a daily basis, recalling a routine trip to the dentist the day prior as an example.

“I went to go to the dentist yesterday, and it was a half-an-hour appointment, and it was like the most miserable hour and a half of my life,” Applecate said. “Just getting down my stairs, getting into the car, getting into the parking lot, getting into the elevator, going into the office, like the whole thing was not even an hour and a half. And by the time I got home, I was like, ‘I can’t move anymore.’ And that’s, that’s the stuff that makes me (say) that I can’t accept it yet because I’m mad still.”