Christina Applegate Reveals She’s ‘Probably Not Going To Work On-Camera Again’ Due To Her Health

Under two years after announcing that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Christina Applegate shared that she doesn’t think she’ll return to acting now that she’s wrapped up her starring role in Dead To Me.

The 51-year-old actor recently opened up to Vanity Fair about what amounts to her retirement, sharing that “I'm probably not going to work on-camera again.”

The Bad Moms star also explained what life is like living with a neurological disease and a disability, stating that there are “no good days.”

"You just have little sh*tty days,” she continued. “People are like, 'Well, why don't you take more showers?' Well, because getting in the shower is frightening. You can fall, you can slip, your legs can buckle. Especially because I have a glass shower. It's frightening to me to get in there."

“There are just certain things that people take for granted in their lives,” she concluded, stating that she even does it herself.

In a series of tweets in August 2021, Applegate revealed the heartbreaking diagnosis as well as how she had been faring.

At the time, her television show Dead To Me, which she both produces and stars in, was gearing up for its third season, which would become its last due to Applegate’s health.

“Hi friends. A few months ago I was diagnosed with MS,” she wrote. “It’s been a strange journey.”

Applegate continued, “But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition. It’s been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going. Unless some asshole blocks it.”

In a follow-up tweet, Applegate added, “As one of my friends that has MS said ‘we wake up and take the indicated action’. And that’s what I do. So now I ask for privacy. As I go through this thing. Thank you xo.”

According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, MS is “an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body.”

An estimated 2.3 million people live with MS across the globe.

After her diagnosis, Applegate wrapped up the third and final season of Dead To Me, though she admitted it was difficult.

“Being diagnosed with MS last year and what happened to my body, to my mind, to my spirit, to my everything, of course I didn’t want to be around anyone or talk about it, but I had to go to work,” she said an interview with Kelly Clarkson in November. “I was not forced to go to work, but I made sure that we finished the show.”

“It was really incredibly difficult, and then I went to sleep for a few months,” she went on. “And then all of a sudden now I had to come out again and be this person. And people had seen me as this other person for the last almost 40 years, and I’m different now, and it’s incredibly hard. I’m going to do my best to get through it, I suppose.”

Applegate also now joins a number of Hollywood stars who have announced in recent years that they have MS, including her The Sweetest Thing co-star, Selma Blair. Jamie Lynn Sigler, Montell Williams, and Jack Osbourne have also gone public with their MS diagnoses.

All of this comes after Applegate was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. Less than a month later, she announced that she was cancer-free following a double mastectomy. Her real-life experience with breast cancer later became a storyline for her character on Dead to Me.

In November 2022, she was honored with a Hollywood Star, and attended the ceremony with a cane in hand and a manicure that read, FU MS.

“This day means more to me than you could possibly imagine,” she said while accepting the honor. “I can’t stand for too long, so I going to thank the people that I really need to thank. ...The most important person in this world is my daughter. You are so much more, so much more than even you know. You are so beautiful and kind and loving and smart and interesting, and I am blessed every day that I get to wake up and take you to your school. You are my everything. Thank you for standing beside me through all of this.”

This February, she was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for her starring role in Dead to Me, though she lost her bid to Jean Smart for her performance in Hacks.

“It’s my last awards show as an actor probably, so it’s kind of a big deal,” she told The Los Angeles Times ahead of the event.

She attended the awards show with her 12 year-old daughter, Sadie Grace.