Christina Applegate has disclosed that she was misdiagnosed when she was told she had multiple sclerosis.
In 2021, the Emmy winner revealed that she had been diagnosed with the incurable chronic illness MS, which affects the brain and spinal cord, months earlier.
Earlier this week, Christina returned to her podcast MeSsy after a seven-month break due to ill health, where she shared that she’d recently been informed she doesn’t have multiple sclerosis.
“This may come as great news, but to me, I’m back at square one,” she admitted.
Christina explained she was “not happy at all” to hear of the misdiagnosis, despite her doctor’s “congratulations” when they broke the news to her.
“You don’t get misdiagnosed and then all of the sudden I’m better. I haven’t gotten better,” she told listeners.
“If anything, I’ve gotten worse in some ways. So I’m back at square one, that I don’t know what’s going on with me.”
She added that she still has “every single” symptom of MS, but pointed out there are “many things that mirror MS”.
Christina also pointed out that there is a “pretty damn high number of misdiagnoses” when it comes to MS, which the NHS website says can cause fatigue, issues with vision, numbness and tingling, “sexual problems” and issues with coordination and muscle cramps, spasms and stiffness, as well as problems relating to memory and concentration.
The former Married With Children star said she was in a “state of shock”, calling the misdiagnosis a “mindfuck” and a “weird feeling” given that she had become something of a “poster child” for MS.
“I had a fucking reason as to why my day sucked every day. And now I don’t have a reason and it’s very unnerving and it’s really confusing for me,” she admitted.
Shortly after her initial MS diagnosis, Christina retired from acting to focus on her health, and claimed on the MeSsy podcast that her illness “stopped my life”.
Christina lamented: “I still have to use wheelchairs when I go to the doctor’s office. I can’t walk from the car to the room. I’m still in this.
“Nothing magical happened when she said, ‘You don’t have MS.’ Nothing magical happened.”
In the 1990s, Christina rose to fame as a cast member on the family sitcom Married With Children.
Her subsequent credits included Samantha Who?, Dead To Me and a recurring guest role on Friends as Jennifer Aniston’s on-screen sister, for which she won an Emmy.
She started MeSsy in 2024 as a way of speaking candidly about her health issues, which she also elaborated on in her 2026 memoir You With The Sad Eyes.
Earlier this year, she spent a months-long prolonged period in hospital due to her health issues, returning home over the summer.
