Christina Applegate has announced she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis “a few months ago.”
“It’s been a strange journey,” the 49-year-old actress wrote in a tweet sent late Monday night. “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 (expletive) blocks it.”
Christina Applegate announced late Monday that she has multiple sclerosis, describing her diagnosis as a “tough road.” Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Applegate rose to fame as teenager Kelly Bundy in the popular sitcom “Married … with Children” and has worked actively since in both film and television, winning an Emmy in 2003 for a guest appearance on “Friends.” She most recently earned multiple nominations for her lead role in the Netflix series “Dead to Me,” which has been renewed for a third and final season.
The actress has spoken publicly about her health before, sharing shortly after a breast cancer diagnosis in 2008 that she had undergone a double mastectomy even though the cancer had only been found in one breast. Speaking to Robin Roberts on “Good Morning America,” Applegate said she made the decision as a preventive measure, given that she carries the BRCA1 gene mutation.
“Sometimes I cry,” she told Roberts at the time. “Sometimes I scream, and I get really angry and I get really into wallowing in self-pity sometimes, and I think it’s all part of healing.”
Years later, Applegate shared that she also had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed to prevent another diagnosis.
While there is no cure for MS, an autoimmune disease affecting the central nervous system, there are treatments to help manage symptoms. Several other Hollywood celebrities have announced their own diagnoses over the past several years, including actress Selma Blair, who starred alongside Applegate in the 2002 film “The Sweetest Thing.”
“As one of my friends that has MS said ‘we wake up and take the indicated action,’ ” Applegate tweeted Monday. “And that’s what I do. So now I ask for privacy. As I go through this thing. Thank you xo.'”
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