Actress Christina Applegate returned to her podcast this week, and gave an unfortunate update about her medical health in the process.
The latest episode of Applegate’s “MeSsy” podcast saw the actress return to the show after a seven month break, and shared the surprising news that she was actually misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis years ago. For those unaware, Applegate revealed in 2021 that she had been diagnosed with MS after having random bouts of illness and seemingly fitting the symptoms.
At the time, the diagnosis caused her to retire from acting following the end of her Netflix series, Dead to Me, in 2022.
What else did Christina Applegate say about her MS misdiagnosis?
On the latest episode of the podcast, Applegate said that she did not have MS. While the news was great to hear, Applegate said, it still put her all the way back to “square one,” as she still remains unwell and trying to find out what exactly is going on. “This may come as great news, but to me, I’m back at square one,” said Applegate. “It’s hard to say that [my doctor] came into my room and she said, ‘Congratulations, you don’t have MS.’”
“You don’t get misdiagnosed and then all of the sudden I’m better. I haven’t gotten better … If anything, I’ve gotten worse in some ways,” Applegate said (via Variety). “So I’m back at square one, that I don’t know what’s going on with me.”
As far as her mystery illness goes, Applegate says she still isn’t very sure of what it is, only that it does mirror MS in many of what it looks like. “I have every symptom of someone with MS. Every single one,” she said. “Now, we both know that there are many things that mirror MS — many different things.” Applegate also spoke about the “pretty damn high number” if cases of MS that have been misdiagnosed.
After revealing her diagnosis in 2021, Applegate had become a huge advocate for MS, which affects over 3.1 million people worldwide. Now, she says, she feels as if she’s almost let everyone down after not having it. “It’s this weird feeling because I became this — you and I, the poster children for MS,” said Applegate in her talk with Dr. Marwa Kaisey. “I had a reason. I had a f—ing reason as to why my day sucked every day. And now I don’t have a reason and it’s very unnerving and it’s really confusing for me.”
“I’ve gone through a great depression because of it. But, you know, I lost everything. I lost my job,” Applegate said in a separate part of the conversation. “God, I’m so sorry, I get really emotional because it stopped my life. I still have to use wheelchairs when I go to the doctor’s office. I can’t walk from the car to the room. I mean, I’m still in this. Nothing magical happened when she said, ‘You don’t have MS.’ Nothing magical happened.”
