Kelly on Married… with Children wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but if that’s your only experience with Christina Applegate, then you’ve missed out on a lot of her career. After starting out as a child actor, Applegate made a name for herself on Married… with Children as the Bundys’ ditzy daughter. She starred on the show for all 11 seasons, from 1987 to 1997, and she’s gone on to star in several other sitcoms, in movies, and on the Broadway stage. Read on to find out more about Applegate’s life and career today.
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Since her time on Married… with Children, Applegate has gone on to appear in a handful of other TV shows. She was the star of Samantha Who and Up All Night, and she currently stars on Netflix’s drama Dead to Me, for which she’s been nominated for two Emmy Awards for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Some of her movie roles include The Sweetest Thing, Anchorman and its sequel, and the two Bad Moms movies. Applegate has also acted on stage. In 2005, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Lead Actress in a Musical for Sweet Charity.
Applegate has been married to her second husband, musician Maryton LeNoble, since 2013. The couple have an 11-year-old daughter together named Sadie. In an interview with People in 2018, Applegate shared that she knows exactly what she’ll do if Sadie wants to follow in her footsteps as a performer.
“I have a really strict rule that she can study acting until she’s 18, and then if she wants to have that as a job, then she has the right to make that decision,” she said. At the time, she said that Sadie was into playing piano and wanted to be a singer.
Applegate has gone through a lot when it comes to her health, and she’s shared her experience. In 2008, the actor underwent a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer at age 36. She also had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, because carrying the BRCA1 gene mutation meant she had a higher risk of developing cancer in the areas. In 2018, Applegate told People that she spoke out about her breast cancer to help others, particularly women who weren’t getting MRIs because of the cost. She also started the organization Right Action for Women to help fund necessary screenings and imaging.
Then, in 2021, Applegate announced that she’s living with multiple sclerosis. “A few months ago I was diagnosed with MS,” she wrote on Twitter. “It’s been a strange journey. But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition. It’s been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going. Unless some [expletive] blocks it.”
During a 2017 interview with The Insider, Applegate was shown a clip of Katey Sagal, who played her mother on Married… with Children, speaking kindly about her and about getting to watch her grow up and become a mother.
Applegate teared up and said, “I love her so much. She did raise me, so she is my mama. I always say to people, if you don’t like things about me, just talk to Katey and Ed [O’Neill] because they raised me. If you do like things about me, talk to Katey and Ed, because they raised me.”
Applegate was also asked whether she would do a Married… with Children revival series. “I will not put on one of those dresses,” she said of her character’s penchant for tight looks. “Mama gave birth at almost 40, so we don’t put those dresses back on.”
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