Christina Applegate, 54, Reflects on Kelly Bundy Role and How It Worsened Her Struggle With Anorexia

Christina Applegate is opening up about the personal struggles she faced during her early rise to fame in her new memoir, You With the Sad Eyes, which officially hits shelves on March 3.

In a recently released excerpt, the Emmy-winning actress reflects on her time playing Kelly Bundy on the long-running sitcom Married… with Children, a role that initially made her hesitant.

Applegate admitted she and her mother were quick to judge the show’s script, calling it trash and poorly written, full of potty humor. “We couldn’t stop laughing at it even though we wanted to hate it,” she recalled.

At first, she turned down the part, but after watching a tape of the pilot, she changed her mind. She realized that despite her skepticism, the show had a charm she couldn’t ignore. But stepping into the role of Kelly Bundy came with a steep personal cost.

Applegate had been struggling with body dysmorphia and anorexia before the show, and she says that playing Kelly only made those issues worse. She felt enormous pressure to maintain an extremely slim figure to fit the character’s revealing wardrobe. “I had to be skinny.

I was size 0,” she admitted. During filming, she often restricted her eating to tiny portions or skipped meals entirely and kept herself on a cycle of intense exercise classes, chasing what she now calls an impossible standard of perfection.

As the show went on, Applegate noticed that Kelly’s costumes became even tighter and shorter, often drawing loud reactions from the studio audience. Looking back, she says she now feels uncomfortable about how the character was designed to appeal to the male gaze.

“I was genuinely innocent of my impact on the audience at the time,” she explained, reflecting on the broad, lewd humor that was considered funny in the late ’80s and early ’90s but would likely not be made the same way today.

Despite the personal toll, Applegate says she does not hold any resentment toward her former castmates or crew. She has continued to build a respected career, most recently earning acclaim for her role as Jen Harding in the Netflix series Dead to Me.

After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021, Applegate stepped back from traditional acting but has remained active and visible through her weekly podcast MeSsy, which she co-hosts with Jamie-Lynn Sigler.

The podcast has become a space where Applegate can speak openly about the messiness of life, from parenting challenges to living with a chronic illness. She has also found joy in the simpler aspects of life, like driving her daughter to school each day and appreciating quiet family moments.

Her memoir promises to go deeper, covering her childhood in Laurel Canyon, her experiences growing up in the entertainment industry, her struggles with health, and the lessons she’s learned along the way.

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