Christina Applegate says “I don’t enjoy living” amid MS battle
Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on June 5, 2024
In the latest installment of their MeSsy podcast, Christina Applegate got real with her co-host, fellow actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who also has multiple sclerosis, about her mental state.
The episode dropped on Tuesday, but the podcast noted it was recorded earlier in 2024.
“I don’t enjoy living. I don’t enjoy it,” Applegate admitted. “I don’t enjoy things at all.”
The former Married with Children star noted sarcastically, “It’s not like I wake up and … got things to do, places to go, people to see. All the excitement in my crip’ life.”
Instead, and partially thanks to medicine side effects, Applegate says she mostly sleeps all day.
Applegate said, “I’m kind of just, like, giving up … I’m kind of just, well, this is just it. I’m just gonna lay in bed and sleep all the time, and when my daughter needs me … I’ll do anything for her … and I’ll turn the lights off and go back to sleep.”
She continued, “I don’t enjoy living. I don’t enjoy it. I don’t enjoy things at all. … If someone is like, ‘Let’s get up and go for a walk, or let’s go and get a coffee,’ I don’t enjoy that process.”
Applegate admitted she felt “trapped” in “a real depression, where it’s kind of scaring me … a little bit because it feels really fatalistic, it feels really ‘end of.'”
Throughout, former Sopranos star Sigler tried to boost Applegate’s spirits by pointing out the love she got at a surprise appearance at the Emmy Awards in January. Sigler also revealed to Applegate that she “almost died” in 2023 after going septic following a surgical complication.
“We still have a lot to process, but … you need to give yourself a chance,” Sigler said.
Sigler said, “It is so hard to live in a disabled body but … it’s not a reason enough for you to stop living. I can’t let you give up.”
If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or by visiting 988lifeline.org. You can also contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
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