Christina Applegate Admits to Dealing With 'Real Depression' and 'Darkness' After MS Diagnosis
Christina Applegate is getting more candid than ever about the mental effects of multiple sclerosis.
During the latest episode of her podcast "MeSsy" with friend Jamie-Lynn Sigler, the Married with Children alum, 52, admitted to the intense anguish she's been dealing with following her 2021 diagnosis.
"I'm in a depression right now, which I don't think I've felt that for years," Applegate told the Sopranos star, 43, who is also battling the illness.
"Like a real, f--- it all depression where it's kind of scaring me to a little bit because it feels really fatalistic. I'm trapped in like this darkness right now that I haven't felt like... I don't even know how long, probably 20-something years," she continued.
In January, the Sweet Charity actress made an appearance at the Emmy Awards. However, Applegate told Sigler it was "the hardest day of my life," adding that she slept for "two days" afterward.
"This is being really honest...I don't enjoy living. I don't enjoy it. I don't enjoy things anymore," the Bad Moms star confessed.
The Big Sky alum, who received her own diagnosis 20 years ago, gave her pal immense moral support during her difficult period. "It's so hard to live in a disabled body. It is so hard. I will not take that away from you and I am right there with you," Sigler told Applegate. "But what makes it harder is when you compare it to how it used to be ... Once we get you to this place where we're accepting that this is how it's going to be, maybe forever ...[coping with MS] is not a reason enough for you to stop living because I sit here across from you and you still make me laugh like nobody else can. You still make me smile. You make me feel loved."
The Dead to Me actress also opened up about her decision to not talk to someone after receiving the shocking news about her health. "I have avoided therapy since I've been diagnosed because I'm so afraid to start crying and that I'm not going to be able to end crying," she explained. "I just am so I'm so afraid for those floodgates to open and that I won't be able to stop."
Despite Applegate's reservations, Sigler encouraged her to be as vulnerable as possible. "I feel like you owe it to yourself to cry and really, really go there. You've got to just, you got to allow yourself to feel that stuff. You can't keep pushing it away, otherwise you're going to be where you're at right now. You're like in a purgatory, you know?" her confidant told her about getting help.