Christina Applegate Was Misdiagnosed: The ‘Dead to Me’ Star Reveals She Doesn’t Have MS After All

For more than five years, Christina Applegate has been one of the most visible voices in the multiple sclerosis community. She became a public advocate, co-hosted a podcast about living with the condition and wrote candidly about her daily struggles. Her openness helped countless people feel less alone, which makes the latest twist in her health story all the more startling.

The Emmy winner first announced her diagnosis in August 2021, telling followers on X that it had been a strange journey and asking for privacy. She had noticed symptoms like numbness in her toes and a buckling leg while filming her Netflix series ‘Dead to Me,’ and production on the final season was paused for about 5 months as she began treatment. She later stepped away from acting on camera as her condition worsened.

Now, in a stunning update, Applegate has revealed that she doesn’t have multiple sclerosis. The 54-year-old shared the news on Tuesday in a two-part episode of her ‘MeSsy’ podcast, which she co-hosts with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, marking her return after a seven-month absence.

According to Applegate, her doctor recently delivered the news that she never had MS. She said the reaction in the room was joy from everyone else, but she wasn’t happy at all. Speaking through tears, she explained that she doesn’t feel better just because the label has changed, and that her symptoms have continued and even gotten worse over time.

She described feeling like she is back at square one, since her doctors now have to figure out what has been causing her debilitating symptoms. Applegate said that new technology helped lead to the discovery, and that she remains in a state of shock after spending the past few months processing the news.

Applegate was joined for the second episode by Dr. Marwa Kaisey, an associate professor in the neurology department at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Kaisey explained that misdiagnoses of MS are fairly common because there isn’t one single test for the disease, and she noted that around 20 percent of people diagnosed with MS are misdiagnosed. Applegate pointed out that many conditions can mirror MS.

The episode also touched on something more personal. Applegate said she feels as though she let people down after becoming such a vocal advocate for the MS community, and she called the experience a rollercoaster of confusion. Sigler reassured her that she hadn’t misled anyone.

The revelation follows a rough stretch. TMZ reported in April that Applegate had been hospitalized in Los Angeles in late March, though the reason was never disclosed. A representative said at the time that she had a long history of complicated medical conditions she has been refreshingly open about, and TMZ later reported that she was discharged in early August after a nearly four-month stay.

Applegate also released a memoir this year titled ‘You With the Sad Eyes,’ in which she wrote about life with her symptoms, from struggling to move her arm to reach a glass of water to frequent trips to the emergency room. She had previously said she’d been in the hospital upwards of 30 times since her diagnosis.

For now, the cause of her symptoms remains unknown. Applegate has said she is still living with significant mobility limitations, and her team of doctors is working to determine what has been happening to her body.

It is a lot for any person to process, and Applegate has never shied away from sharing the hardest moments in public. The actress rose to fame as a teen on ‘Married… with Children,’ won an Emmy for her guest role on ‘Friends’ and starred in films including ‘Anchorman’ and ‘Bad Moms,’ and she survived breast cancer in 2008. Fans have long admired her honesty, and that honesty is on full display now.

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