Christina Applegate’s teen daughter, Sadie, recently opened up about how her mother’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis has affected her.
During an appearance on Thursday’s episode of “MeSsy,” the podcast Applegate co-hosts with fellow actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler, the 13-year-old said that certain things have been “really hard” for her since her mom was diagnosed with MS in 2021.
“Every night, I remember, when I was a kid, we would dance and everything in her room for hours at a time,” she said.
“It was hard seeing my mom lose a lot of the abilities she used to have in my childhood. … It’s just really difficult seeing her go through this.”
Sadie then explained that it’s also been “nice” being able to support her mom in different ways, though she joked that the “Dead to Me” actor isn’t always willing to let her steer when her mom uses a wheelchair.
Applegate, who shares Sadie with husband Martyn LeNoble, later said that as a parent she often feels guilty when she has difficult days dealing with MS.
MS is a condition that affects the brain and spinal cord, causing a wide range of potential symptoms, including numbness, muscle weakness and problems with vision and movement, per the Cleveland Clinic.
“I don’t ever want you to feel that I’m not capable to be your protector, your mother,” the actor told her daughter. “I love you, I want to make you food, I want to bring it you, I want to do all the things. And I do, when I can, and I feel incredibly guilty when I can’t.
“But you’re always pretty darn cool about it kid,” Applegate continued.
Frazer Harrison via Getty Images
Elsewhere in the episode, Sadie opened up about some of her own health struggles and how they’ve helped her relate to her mom.
She said she was recently diagnosed with having postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome or POTS, a type of autonomic dysfunction that can cause chronic fatigue and dizziness, among other symptoms.
“I feel like if I didn’t have this thing [POTS] it would be a lot harder to understand what my mom’s going through,” she told Sigler.
Sadie also said she lives with misophonia, “a condition characterized by a negative emotional/autonomic reaction to specific everyday sounds,” per the National Institutes of Health.
Applegate often discusses what it’s like navigating symptoms of MS.
In an episode of “MeSsy” that premiered earlier this month, the actor told Sigler that she was experiencing depression.
“It feels really ‘end of it,’” she said in the episode, which was recorded earlier this year. “I don’t mean that, I just mean I’m trapped in this darkness right now that I haven’t felt in, like, I don’t even know how long, probably 20-something years.”
She later explained that she was focused on being there for her daughter, despite feeling like “just giving up” sometimes: “When my daughter needs me, I’ll be there for her, and I’ll do everything for her and push and do anything I possibly can.”
If you or someone you know needs help, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for mental health support. Additionally, you can find local mental health and crisis resources at dontcallthepolice.com. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention.