Christina Applegate, 54, Says ‘One of The Hardest Things’ About Multiple Sclerosis Is Not Being Able To Dance

“… Not being able to dance as I once did now that I have MS is one of the hardest things about the disease. It’s impossible to overstate how important dance is to me.”

Multiple Sclerosis (MS): Inspiring Stories from SNTV

Applegate, who has been living with MS since her August 2021 diagnosis—more than a decade after bravely facing breast cancer in 2008—shared a series of heartwarming throwback photos from her dance days throughout the years in her Instagram post, reflecting with nostalgia and grace on a chapter of her life filled with movement and joy.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Christina Applegate (@christinaapplegate)

We can’t help but admire Applegate for her openness with fans, as she looks back on an ability she no longer has—her willingness to share so honestly is deeply inspiring.

Recently, she shared a photo of herself standing in heels, but admitting she has done so after some arduous days, writing, “For people who don’t understand MS. When we get stressed or upset our symptoms get worse.

“I had something happen to me on Friday and I have fallen like 5 times. Legs are busted.”

Though she’s no longer able to dance as she once did, and struggles with her legs, Applegate keeps pushing herself, discovering new strengths along the way, and she’s looking forward to the release of her new memoir on March 3, 2026.

Learn to Accept Yourself — A Huge Part of Living With Cancer

Applegate has also previously described herself as becoming a “dance mom” in an interview with People.

When her daughter Sadie, who is now 15 years old, was a toddler, Applegate admitted, “Sometimes I’ll find myself watching her in class, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, you’re so being a dance mom.’

“I’m sitting [there] in my head going, ‘Why isn’t she pointing her foot that way?! Someone needs to go in there and fix her foot!'”

Applegate also shared that dancing was her “secret thing” that others didn’t know about.

She explained, “I could go to classes and not have anyone bother me. And I did it for years up until I got pregnant with my daughter.”

“I now have to live vicariously through my daughter. I watch her and help her speak through her body … channel her emotions and her joy through her body. [I help her] get grounded, get all that stuff out,” Applegate added.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Christina Applegate (@christinaapplegate)

Christina Applegate’s MS Journey

Applegate began experiencing symptoms Multiple sclerosis, potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord, long before she had answers

She actually said she felt off balance during a dance sequence that occurred way back in season one of her dark comedy “Dead to Me.” She later noticed her aptitude for tennis started to fail.

“I wish I had paid attention,” she previously told The New York Times. “But who was I to know?”

It took several years of worsening tingling and numbness in her extremities before her diagnosis arrived while on set. This life-altering realization wouldn’t stop Applegate from finishing her portrayal of Jen Harding, but she did need a break. Production of the final season ceased for about five months as she began treatment.

“There was the sense of, ‘Well, let’s get her some medicine so she can get better,’” Applegate said. “And there is no better. But it was good for me. I needed to process my loss of my life, my loss of that part of me. So I needed that time.”

Applegate admits she’ll never fully “accept” her condition, but she did learn how to work with it. And she’s previously talked about how the show was a cathartic outlet and safe space.

“I had an obligation to Liz [Feldman] and to Linda [Cardellini], to our story,” she said of the show’s writer and her co-star respectively. “The powers that be were like, ‘Let’s just stop. We don’t need to finish it. Let’s put a few episodes together.’ I said, ‘No. We’re going to do it, but we’re going to do it on my terms.'”

‘Cruel Intentions’ Star Selma Blair Rehearses For ‘Dancing With The Stars’ While Living With Multiple Sclerosis: ‘We Do These Things We Want To Find Joy In’

Applegate wasn’t able to work as hard or as long or in the heat without her body giving out, but she found pride in her self-sufficiency. With the help of some adjustments to the schedule, she powered through. Nicole Vassell, a writer for The Independent, says other programs should learn from the way Applegate’s “physical changes [were] seamlessly incorporated into the show.”

“This is the first time anyone’s going to see me the way I am,” Applegate said. “I put on 40 pounds; I can’t walk without a cane. I want people to know that I am very aware of all of that.”

On an episode of the “MeSsy”” podcast, Applegate shared that she has since naturally lost those 40 pounds without using any anti-obesity medication. She jokingly added that the weight loss came as a side effect of managing stomach issues related to the medication she takes while navigating her MS journey.

Resilience Through Adversity

We love Christina Applegate’s continued strength as she navigates life with MS, and we’d like to point out how SurvivorNet specializes in covering the lives of people who overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Often, seeing the positive helps them maintain their resilience.

WATCH: Defining and Building Resilience

Dr. Zuri Murrell, an oncologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, previously spoke to SurvivorNet about the role of a positive outlook on survival rates, saying, “I’m pretty good at telling what kind of patient are going to still have this attitude and probably going to live the longest, even with bad, bad disease. And those are patients who, they have gratitude in life.”

Resilience is an important trait, but not the easiest to build. The ultimate goal is not to avoid tough times, but to be able to bounce back from them. And yet, when they are faced with an overwhelming, life-changing situation, how do people shift their view? How do they learn to see the problem as temporary, rather than permanent, and figure out a solution?

It’s complicated, because building resilience is more about your mental and emotional fortitude than anything else. According to the American Psychological Association, “the resources and skills associated with more positive adaptation (i.e., greater resilience) can be cultivated and practiced.” In other words, resilience is not something you’re born with, which should be encouraging. Instead, after every challenge in your life, you build more and more resilience to those hard times.

You can build resilience the way you build muscle – through patience and steady exercise of the skill. Here are some lessons taken from Fischer, Runkel, and Soller, all who have spoke with SurvivorNet in earlier interviews.

• Be willing to learn. If one way doesn’t work, find a different way. If an obstacle lands in your way, build a path around it or over it. In Resilience, one of the athletes says, “You always have to be learning. Otherwise, life gets stagnant.” The more you learn, the more you grow and growth is a sign of resilience.
• Spend time with people who inspire you. Our world is filled with people who overcome challenges, and their success can energize you to overcome your own. Think about famous people who hava faced adversity and did not give up Stephen King actually threw his manuscript, Carrie, in the trash because it had been rejected by publishers so many times. His wife encouraged him to keep sending it out, and he finally sold it in 1974 launching a massively successful career as a novelist. Take the time to read and learn about the lives of Helen Keller, Jackie Robinson, Bethany Hamilton, Nelson Mandela, and others.
• Allow yourself to grieve. Don’t push away or dismiss your frustration and sadness. Ben Fischer says that life can be filled with lots of crying, but “Those cries make us stronger.”
• Be flexible. Abandon the idea that there is only one solution or that you must stick to your original plan. The best solution or plan is the one that eventually works. You may need to change your original plan as the circumstances change.
• Lean in to your community. Your friends, colleagues, and family are invaluable, and when you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed by a problem, their support can carry you. The Harvard Study of Adult Development is the longest study of human well-being. Many news outlets have covered its results, which show that maintaining strong, healthy relationships helped people live longer lives.   Psychiatrist and author Dr. Samantha Boardman tells SurvivorNet that connecting with and contributing to the lives of other people are two of “the three wellsprings of vitality” (the third is feeling positively challenged).

Facing Cancer: How to Turn Stress into Strength

If you’ve been through a difficult health challenge or any type of adversity throughout your live,  Dr. Boardman told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview that one way to get your mental health back in check after a diagnosis is to try to play up your strengths.

“I sometimes will ask patients, tell me about yourself when you were at your best,” she explained. “Using that story, trying to figure out what strengths come to mind. Is it patience? Is it appreciation of beauty? It is perseverance? [Then we can] use those strengths in constructive ways to navigate their cancer journey.”

Dr. Boardman says another way to approach harnessing the strength you already have is by tapping into your values. This could be family, close friendships, spirituality, or commitment to a healthy lifestyle.

Reminding yourself of what your values are and how you are living accordingly is another way to unleash that inner strength.

Lastly, patients shouldn’t underestimate the value of simply opening up, Dr. Boardman says. This could mean speaking to a close family member or friend, or it could mean seeking support in other ways by finding a therapist that meets your needs or looking into joining a support group.

Stay Positive, It Matters

Having negative feelings throughout a health struggle is to be expected, however, doctors will tell you that people who find a way to work through the emotions and stay positive tend to have better outcomes.

Understanding Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis causes the immune system to attack cells that form the protective sheath that covers nerve fibers in the spinal cord. The disruption leads to communication problems between the brain and the rest of the body.

Once the protective barrier is damaged, the spinal cord struggles to communicate to the body’s arms, legs, and other parts to function normally.

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society lays out the different types of multiple sclerosis:

• Clinically isolated syndrome (CIS): is when an individual experiences a single neurological episode lasting 24 hours or less. CIS is what MS is diagnosed as until there is a second episode.
• Relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS): The most common MS among the million people battling the disease in the US, RRMS is marked by sudden flare-ups, new symptoms, or worsening of symptoms and cognitive function. The condition will then go into remission for some time before reemerging with no known warning signs.
• Primary progressive MS (PPMS): These individuals have no flare-ups or remission, just a steady decline with progressively worse symptoms and an increasing loss of cognitive and body functions.
• Secondary progressive MS (SPMS): This almost transitional form of MS progresses from RRMS to PPMS.
  In addition to balance issues, numbness, and tingling in the limbs, as Applegate experienced, other common MS symptoms include vision and bladder control problems. Mood changes and mental and physical fatigue are other symptoms people living with MS may experience, according to the National Institute of Health.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke explains this disease as: “An unpredictable disease of the central nervous system, [MS] can range from relatively benign to somewhat disabling to devastating, as communication between the brain and other parts of the body is disrupted.” Investigators of the disease believe it to be an autoimmune disease.

Many people fighting MS experience muscle weakness and difficulty with coordination and balance, so it’s absolutely incredible and encouraging that Applegate was able to present an award in front of so many people at the Emmys.

Currently, there is no cure for MS, although some people treat the disease using chemotherapy, medications, or steroid drugs.

Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

---