Christina Applegate Says She Uses Sick Sense of Humor to 'Keep Myself OK' After MS Diagnosis

Mar. 15, 2025

Christina Applegate.Photo:Gilbert Flores/Variety via GettyChristina Applegateis using humor to deal with hermultiple sclerosis diagnosis.During an appearance onJimmy Kimmel Live!Monday, theDead to Meactress, 52, who wasdiagnosed with MS in 2021, joked about making an entrance on the show.“I was thinking wouldn’t it be funny if I came out and I did a somersault like Willy Wonka? And then I was like ‘ta-da,’ you’d be ‘What a bitch. She is such a liar.’ I’m not. I literally am disabled,” Applegate said.Kimmel, 56, responded, “I’ve learned from our text exchanges that you have a very sick sense of humor,” to which Applegate replied, “It’s how I live. It’s how I keep myself OK.“Applegate joked about having moments where she cries, telling the host, “Every day, when I wake up. It’s fine.“She added of dealing with the diagnosis, “I mean, it sucks. I’m not going to lie. And I think anyone who has MS isn’t going to be like, ‘This is the best thing that ever happened to me.’ ““It really isn’t. Because that would make you have a really crappy life if that’s the best thing, the best thing that ever happened to you is something like this,” Applegate joked.She then told the audience, “That was a joke. You guys don’t get me!““Look, did I want this? No. Do I wish this upon anyone? No. But, now it’s my normal,” theBad Momsstar added.Christina Applegate makes appearance on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!'.Jimmy Kimmel Live/YoutubeApplegate, who recently launched her new podcast,MeSsy, withclose friendJamie-Lynn Sigler,spoke to PEOPLEearlier this month about how living withher MS diagnosismeans she can’t always be the mom she wants to be for her13-year-old daughter Sadie.“She’s had to see the loss of her mom, in the way that I was a mom with her,” Applegate said. “Dancing with her every day. Picking her up from school every day. Working at her school, working in the library. Being present out of the house, out of my bed. She doesn’t see those things anymore. This is a loss for her as well. And we’re both learning as we’re going along.”Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.She said that there are times when her symptoms are so painful and overwhelming that she isn’t able to be there forher daughter, whom she shares with her husbandMartyn LeNoble, 54.“She’ll come in the room, and if she sees that I’m laying on my side, she knows that she can’t ask me to do anything,” Applegate shared. “And that breaks me, breaks me. Because I love doing stuff for my kid. I love making her food. I love bringing it to her. I love all of it, and I just can’t sometimes. But I try. I try.”

Christina Applegate.Photo:Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty

Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty

Christina Applegateis using humor to deal with hermultiple sclerosis diagnosis.During an appearance onJimmy Kimmel Live!Monday, theDead to Meactress, 52, who wasdiagnosed with MS in 2021, joked about making an entrance on the show.“I was thinking wouldn’t it be funny if I came out and I did a somersault like Willy Wonka? And then I was like ‘ta-da,’ you’d be ‘What a bitch. She is such a liar.’ I’m not. I literally am disabled,” Applegate said.Kimmel, 56, responded, “I’ve learned from our text exchanges that you have a very sick sense of humor,” to which Applegate replied, “It’s how I live. It’s how I keep myself OK.“Applegate joked about having moments where she cries, telling the host, “Every day, when I wake up. It’s fine.“She added of dealing with the diagnosis, “I mean, it sucks. I’m not going to lie. And I think anyone who has MS isn’t going to be like, ‘This is the best thing that ever happened to me.’ ““It really isn’t. Because that would make you have a really crappy life if that’s the best thing, the best thing that ever happened to you is something like this,” Applegate joked.She then told the audience, “That was a joke. You guys don’t get me!““Look, did I want this? No. Do I wish this upon anyone? No. But, now it’s my normal,” theBad Momsstar added.Christina Applegate makes appearance on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!'.Jimmy Kimmel Live/YoutubeApplegate, who recently launched her new podcast,MeSsy, withclose friendJamie-Lynn Sigler,spoke to PEOPLEearlier this month about how living withher MS diagnosismeans she can’t always be the mom she wants to be for her13-year-old daughter Sadie.“She’s had to see the loss of her mom, in the way that I was a mom with her,” Applegate said. “Dancing with her every day. Picking her up from school every day. Working at her school, working in the library. Being present out of the house, out of my bed. She doesn’t see those things anymore. This is a loss for her as well. And we’re both learning as we’re going along.”Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.She said that there are times when her symptoms are so painful and overwhelming that she isn’t able to be there forher daughter, whom she shares with her husbandMartyn LeNoble, 54.“She’ll come in the room, and if she sees that I’m laying on my side, she knows that she can’t ask me to do anything,” Applegate shared. “And that breaks me, breaks me. Because I love doing stuff for my kid. I love making her food. I love bringing it to her. I love all of it, and I just can’t sometimes. But I try. I try.”

Christina Applegateis using humor to deal with hermultiple sclerosis diagnosis.

During an appearance onJimmy Kimmel Live!Monday, theDead to Meactress, 52, who wasdiagnosed with MS in 2021, joked about making an entrance on the show.

“I was thinking wouldn’t it be funny if I came out and I did a somersault like Willy Wonka? And then I was like ‘ta-da,’ you’d be ‘What a bitch. She is such a liar.’ I’m not. I literally am disabled,” Applegate said.

Kimmel, 56, responded, “I’ve learned from our text exchanges that you have a very sick sense of humor,” to which Applegate replied, “It’s how I live. It’s how I keep myself OK.”

Applegate joked about having moments where she cries, telling the host, “Every day, when I wake up. It’s fine.”

She added of dealing with the diagnosis, “I mean, it sucks. I’m not going to lie. And I think anyone who has MS isn’t going to be like, ‘This is the best thing that ever happened to me.’ "

“It really isn’t. Because that would make you have a really crappy life if that’s the best thing, the best thing that ever happened to you is something like this,” Applegate joked.

She then told the audience, “That was a joke. You guys don’t get me!”

“Look, did I want this? No. Do I wish this upon anyone? No. But, now it’s my normal,” theBad Momsstar added.

Christina Applegate makes appearance on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!'.Jimmy Kimmel Live/Youtube

Jimmy Kimmel Live/Youtube

Applegate, who recently launched her new podcast,MeSsy, withclose friendJamie-Lynn Sigler,spoke to PEOPLEearlier this month about how living withher MS diagnosismeans she can’t always be the mom she wants to be for her13-year-old daughter Sadie.

“She’s had to see the loss of her mom, in the way that I was a mom with her,” Applegate said. “Dancing with her every day. Picking her up from school every day. Working at her school, working in the library. Being present out of the house, out of my bed. She doesn’t see those things anymore. This is a loss for her as well. And we’re both learning as we’re going along.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

She said that there are times when her symptoms are so painful and overwhelming that she isn’t able to be there forher daughter, whom she shares with her husbandMartyn LeNoble, 54.

“She’ll come in the room, and if she sees that I’m laying on my side, she knows that she can’t ask me to do anything,” Applegate shared. “And that breaks me, breaks me. Because I love doing stuff for my kid. I love making her food. I love bringing it to her. I love all of it, and I just can’t sometimes. But I try. I try.”

source: people.com