Christina Applegate clarifies ‘suicide watch’ remarks as she battles MS
Christina Applegate cleared up recent comments she made about her difficult battle with multiple sclerosis.
Earlier this month, the 52-year-old actress released an episode of her “MeSsy” podcast recorded at the beginning of 2024 in which she says that she doesn’t “enjoy living” because of her MS diagnosis.
“I don’t enjoy it. I don’t enjoy things anymore,” she said. “If someone’s like, ‘Let’s get up and go for a walk.’ Or, ‘Let’s go get a coffee,’ I’m like, ‘I don’t enjoy that process.’ “
But during the June 18 episode of her podcast, Applegate clarified the remarks about her mental health that have concerned so many people.
“I was talking about some dark stuff that I was thinking and feeling,” she said to her co-host, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who also has MS.
“I feel like when we hold things in we give them power,” she continued. “I also think that there’s so much shame a lot of people feel when they’re going through mental health issues. It’s a moment. It’s a thought. It’s a feeling. And when people hold those in, because they’re so afraid to say how they truly feel, we give it immense power.
“I think that it’s incredibly healing and important to be able to express the thoughts, whether that makes someone uncomfortable or not,” added Applegate.
The “Dead to Me” star reiterated how “important” it is for her to talk about the struggles with mental health brought on by her MS diagnosis.
“And, no, I’m not sitting here on suicide watch,” she said. “OK? I am not. Nor have I ever been.”
“But f – – k with the dark thoughts coming through my head sometimes when you’re dealing with something that has taken a huge part of you away. I dare anyone to be diagnosed with MS or any kind of chronic illness that has taken who you were prior to that moment and go, ‘This is great.’ No, you have moments of feeling like this is tiring and I don’t wanna do this, but you do it. And by saying this s – – t out loud, it releases the pressure in the balloon.
“So anyway, I was very, very disturbed by it because that’s all it was,” she added.
Applegate’s podcast episode that made headlines was recorded after she made a surprise appearance at the Emmy Awards in January, where she got a standing ovation from the audience.
The award ceremony marked one of her first public outings since she announced her MS diagnosis in 2021.
Applegate later revealed in a “GMA” interview that she barely remembers her Emmys appearance.
“I kind of blacked out,” the “Married… With Children” star said.
“People said, ‘Oh, you were so funny,’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t even know what I said. I don’t know what I was doing.’ I got so freaked out that I didn’t even know what was happening anymore,” she continued. “And I felt really beloved, and it was a beautiful thing.”
Applegate has been updating fans on her MS battle on her and Sigler’s podcast, which premiered in March.
During the April 2 episode, Applegate said that she’s experiencing “intense pain” and has “no energy.” She also said that the only thing she can do is “lay in a dark room, watching TV and wanting it all to go away.”
Over 2.8 million people live with MS worldwide, including 1 million in the US, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society reports.
