Christina Applegate shared an update on her health after reports last week claimed she had been hospitalised since March.
“Thank you for the outpouring of love and well wishes. Health issues are a constant for me, but I am a strong chick and I’m getting stronger and better every day,” the Married… with Children actor said on Instagram on Monday.
“I’m taking a moment to focus on my health, but I’ll be back with more to say soon enough.”
Her post was accompanied by a picture of her recently released memoir You With the Sad Eyes.
Applegate’s statement came a few days after a TMZ report claimed she had been admitted to a Los Angeles hospital in late March, “though the exact reason for her stay remains unclear”.
A representative for Applegate declined to comment on her medical status and told Entertainment Weekly that she “had a long history of complicated medical conditions that she’s been refreshingly open about, as evidenced in her memoir and on her podcast”.
In August 2021, the Emmy-winning actor revealed that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a few months earlier and that production on Netflix’s Dead to Me had to be halted for over five months when she started treatment.
She has since spoken about the challenges that come with the neurological disorder, including feeling severely depressed because of the debilitating pain.
On the NHS website, multiple sclerosis is described as “a condition that affects the brain and spinal cord. The autoimmune disease cannot currently be cured, but treatment can often help manage it”.
Symptoms include extreme tiredness, vision problems, numbness in parts of the body, being off-balance or dizzy, muscle cramps and spasms, urination issues, memory problems, and sexual dysfunction.
Applegate continues to speak about the condition on the MeSsy podcast she co-hosts with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who also has multiple sclerosis. On 31 March, Sigler told listeners that both she and Applegate would take a “few-week hiatus” from the podcast as they were “both busy with our books” and would “be back in a few weeks”.
In February, Applegate said she was spending a big part of every day in her bed because chronic pain was making it hard to move around. Still, she was committed to her routine of taking her 15-year-old daughter, Sadie, to school and activities.
“I want to take her; it’s my favourite thing to do. It’s the only time we have together by ourselves,” she said.
“I tell myself, ‘Just get her there safely and get home so you can get back into bed.’ And that’s what I do.”
In her memoir, released in March, she discusses both her MS diagnosis as well as her abusive childhood.
Speaking to People ahead of the book’s publication, Applegate said revisiting her most traumatic episodes had been difficult, but ultimately cathartic.
“To be honest, it’s actually opened up so many wounds, and it’s okay because I’m a strong girl, I’m going to get through it,” she said.
