Christina Applegate says she lives ‘kind of in hell’ battling multiple sclerosis

(NEW YORK) — Actresses Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler are opening up for the first time together about the health battle they both share: multiple sclerosis.

“I live kind of in hell,” Applegate, 52, told Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts about her battle with MS. She was diagnosed with the disease in 2021.

“I’m not out a lot, so this is, like, a little difficult, just for my system,” Applegate said. “But, yeah, of course, the support is wonderful, and I’m really grateful.”

Applegate received a standing ovation in January when she walked onstage to present the best supporting actress in a comedy award at the 2024 Emmys.

The “Married… With Children” actress told Roberts she felt “beloved” in the moment, and shocked.

“I actually kinda blacked out,” Applegate said. “People said, ‘Oh, you were so funny,’ and I’m like, I don’t even know what I said. I don’t know what I was doing. I got so freaked out that I didn’t even know what was happening anymore.”

She continued, “And I felt really beloved, and it was really a beautiful thing.”

Applegate walked onstage at the Emmys with the aid of a cane, an assistance made necessary by MS, an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks myelin, the tissue that surrounds nerves, including those in the brain and spinal cord, according to the National Institutes of Health.

It is an unpredictable disease, one that causes different symptoms with variable timing and frequency in different people, from fatigue, numbness or tingling, weakness, dizziness and vertigo to rendering a person unable to write, speak or walk in the most severe cases, the NIH says.

Applegate and Sigler, 42, who was diagnosed with MS over 20 years ago, are sharing their journey with the disease in a new podcast, titled “MeSsy.”

The average age of the start of symptoms for people with MS is between the ages of 20 to 40, and the disease is three times more common in women than men, according to the NIH and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, a nonprofit organization focused on raising MS awareness and increasing research.

Tune into Good Morning America on Tuesday, March 12, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET for more of Robin Roberts’ interview with Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler.