A Moment of Self Reflection Amid a Health Journey
- Christina Applegate, 53, is telling all in a new memoir to be released next Spring detailing her life and career, which will include her health struggles.
- She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021, and afterwards, she says, “all things I thought were important shifted.” Her day-to-day life has become more challenging as she lives with the chronic condition that causes numbness or tingling in the limbs.
- Due to her diagnosis, everyday activities such as showering and walking upstairs prove challenging for Applegate.
- Although there is no cure for multiple sclerosis, several treatment options help manage symptoms. Common tools MS patients use to improve their quality of life include wheelchairs, canes, leg braces, and medical treatments called disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), which can slow the progression of the disease.
- The “Married with Children” star also bravely battled breast cancer after a 2008 diagnosis. She underwent a double mastectomy (removal of both breasts).
Applegate’s book will chronicle her life in the spotlight that began at just three years old, to the highest of highs in Hollywood and the deeply personal challenges she’s faced off-screen—including her diagnosis with multiple sclerosis. The chronic neurological disease, which can lead to symptoms such as numbness, fatigue, coordination issues, and blurred vision, fundamentally reshaped her worldview.
Applegate’s Health Journeys With Multiple Sclerosis and Breast Cancer
Christina Applegate has been candid about the physical and emotional toll of living with multiple sclerosis, a battle she’s faced since her diagnosis in August 2021. The disease came more than a decade after another major health fight — her battle with breast cancer in 2008.
“With the disease of MS, it’s never a good day,” Applegate previously wrote on Instagram, offering a glimpse into the daily challenges she confronts.
“Having MS f—ing sucks… You just have little s— days,” she added, summing up the relentless grind that defines her experience.
Applegate has shared that even the most basic tasks — showering, climbing stairs, and carrying objects — have become daunting. While she’s learned to manage many of her symptoms over time, multiple sclerosis remains a chronic condition, one that she acknowledges she’ll live with for the rest of her life.
Living with Incurable 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 with the body’s arms, legs, and other parts to function normally.
There is no cure for M.S., but M.S. warriors battling the disease do have methods to manage their symptoms.
Common tools M.S. patients use to improve their quality of life include wheelchairs, canes, leg braces, and some medical treatments called disease-modifying therapies (DMTs).
Helping Multiple Sclerosis Patients with Resources
Christina Applegate’s breast cancer journey began in April 2008, when she was just 36 years old. In the early weeks, she kept the diagnosis private, continuing to work without revealing her struggle.
“I went through five weeks of work without telling anyone that this was going on in my life,” she shared in a CNN interview.
Applegate explained that she had dense breasts—an important detail that affected the accuracy of routine screenings. “He suggested that I get an MRI,” she said, recalling her doctor’s recommendation after a mammogram.
WATCH: What to know about dense breasts.
Dense breast tissue poses unique challenges for detection.
“The fatty breast tissue has a gray appearance, so an X-ray beam just runs right through it. But the dense structures block the X-ray. And so that looks white,” said Dr. Connie Lehman, Chief of the Breast Imaging Division at Mass General Hospital.
“Unfortunately, cancers also block the X-ray, so cancers also look white. When you have white cancer hiding in white, dense breast tissue, it can be missed,” Dr. Lehman explained.
Because of this, experts recommend 3D mammograms for those with dense breasts. Applegate’s MRI revealed troubling signs. “They found some funky things going on [in one breast],” she said. A biopsy confirmed the presence of early-stage breast cancer.
WATCH: Understanding Early-Stage Breast Cancer
Early-stage breast cancer is characterized by a small tumor confined to the breast, with no signs of spread to the lymph nodes, making it highly treatable.
Standard treatment for this early stage often includes surgery to remove the cancer, with the possibility of radiation therapy to reduce the risk of recurrence further. The surgical approach may involve either a lumpectomy, which removes the tumor while preserving most of the breast, or a mastectomy, which involves the removal of one or both breasts as a preventive measure.
Despite the favorable prognosis, fear lingered. Applegate focused her energy on treatment, undergoing a lumpectomy followed by six weeks of targeted radiation therapy. Research shows that lumpectomy with radiation is equally effective as mastectomy in preventing recurrence for early-stage cases.
During treatment, a deeper concern surfaced—Applegate learned she carried the BRCA gene mutation, heightening her risk for breast and ovarian cancer. “That sort of changed everything for me,” Applegate explained.
WATCH: Testing for the BRCA gene mutation.
“Radiation was something temporary, and it wasn’t addressing the issue of this coming back or the chance of it coming back in my left breast. I sort of had to kind of weigh all my options at that point,” Applegate said.
Inherited BRCA mutations give each child of a carrier a 50% chance of inheriting the variant. Dr. Kate Tkaczuk, a breast medical oncologist at the University of Maryland, notes, “Patients with a strong family history of breast cancer or ovarian cancer or patients who have a diagnosis of a couple of breast cancers in their lifetime will be at higher risk.”
Faced with the reality of recurrence, Applegate chose a preventative double mastectomy—an emotionally charged decision aimed at long-term peace of mind.
“It just seemed like, ‘I don’t want to have to deal with this again. I don’t want to keep putting that stuff in my body. I just want to be done with this,’ and I was just going to let them go,” Applegate explained.
In a gesture of remembrance, Applegate staged what she called her “first and last nude photo shoot” before surgery. As she prepared to enter the operating room, emotion overwhelmed her. “The floodgates just opened up, and I lost it…” she recalled.
Dr. Tkaczuk explains that when women realize that their body is no longer the way they always remembered it to be after breast cancer surgery, it can affect their psyche. “It’s also a part of you that’s gone, so you go through a grieving process and a mourning process,” Dr. Tkaczuk said.
Dr. Elisa Port, Chief of Breast Surgery at Mount Sinai Health System, offered insight into the procedure.
“A double mastectomy typically takes about two hours for the cancer part of the operation, the removal of the tissue. The real length… can often depend on what type of reconstruction [a patient] has,” Dr. Port explained.
Most women opt for reconstructive surgery, which can take two to three hours with implants or far longer if using one’s own tissue, such as from the abdomen.
Since overcoming her battle, Applegate has become a vocal advocate for early screening and education—turning her experience into a call to action for women everywhere.
Applegate’s breast cancer journey began in April 2008 at just 36 years old.
“I went through five weeks of work without telling anyone that this was going on in my life,” she said during a CNN interview.
Applegate said she had dense breasts and would need more thorough examinations for her routine mammogram screenings.
“He suggested that I get an MRI,” the actress said.
Dr. Connie Lehman, Chief of the Breast Imaging Division at Mass General Hospital, says dense breast tissue is more challenging to see through.
“The fatty breast tissue has a gray appearance, so an X-ray beam just runs right through it. But the dense structures block the X-ray. And so that looks white. Unfortunately, cancers also block the X-ray, so cancers also look white. When you have white cancer hiding in white, dense breast tissue, it can be missed,” Dr. Lehman explains.
It’s recommended that women with dense breasts undergo 3D mammograms, which can be more effective.
When Applegate underwent an MRI screening, something was off.
“They found some funky things going on [in one breast],” she said.
A biopsy confirmed her diagnosis, but luckily, the cancer was caught early. Despite her prognosis, she was still very concerned with her diagnosis.
She then turned her worry into determination, and she focused her efforts on beating the cancer. She underwent a lumpectomy, which is a procedure that removes the tumor and some of the surrounding tissue.
For early-stage breast cancer, studies have shown that lumpectomy plus radiation is as effective a treatment in preventing breast cancer recurrence as mastectomy (the removal of the breast).
Applegate then underwent six weeks of radiation, using high-energy beams aimed at the cancer cells to kill them.
During treatment, she learned she tested positive for the BRCA gene, increasing her risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.
“That sort of changed everything for me. Radiation was something temporary, and it wasn’t addressing the issue of this coming back or the chance of it coming back in my left breast. I sort of had to kind of weigh all my options at that point,” she explained.
The harmful variant of BRCA1 or BRCA2 is inherited from either or both of your parents. So, each offspring of a parent who carries the mutation has a 50% chance of inheriting it.
“Patients with a strong family history of breast cancer or ovarian cancer or patients who have a diagnosis of a couple of breast cancers in their lifetime will be at higher risk,” University of Maryland breast medical oncologist Dr. Kate Tkaczuk explains.
The actress’ doctor gave her treatment options, but she ultimately opted for a preventative double mastectomy, which removes both breasts to reduce cancer risk. When a woman undergoes a double mastectomy, it is a personal and emotional decision that impacts how they feels about themselves.
“It just seemed like, ‘I don’t want to have to deal with this again. I don’t want to keep putting that stuff in my body. I just want to be done with this,’ and I was just going to let them go,” she explained.
Just before the procedure, Applegate said she staged her “first and last nude photo shoot” so she could remember her breasts. Just before the surgery began, Applegate admitted she began to cry.
“The floodgates just opened up, and I lost it…It’s also a part of you that’s gone, so you go through a grieving process and a mourning process,” Dr. Tkaczuk explained.
“A double mastectomy typically takes about two hours for the cancer part of the operation, the removal of the tissue,” Dr. Elisa Port, Chief of Breast Surgery at Mount Sinai Health System, told SurvivorNet in a previous chat. “The real length, the total length of the surgery, can often depend on what type of reconstruction [a patient] has.”
Dr. Port added that most women opt to have some reconstruction. The length of these surgeries can vary. When implants are used, the procedure can take two to three hours (so the total surgery time would be around five hours). There is also the option to take one’s own tissue (usually from the belly area) and transfer it into the breast area, but this is a much longer procedure.
Since Applegate’s breast cancer journey began, she’s advocated for women to undergo the necessary screenings for early detection.
Questions for Your Doctor
If you are diagnosed with MS or are concerned you have the chronic disease due to symptoms you’re experiencing, consider asking your doctor the following questions.
- Which treatment options would you recommend to manage MS?
- Are there any potential side effects of MS treatment?
- What if the treatment to manage symptoms doesn’t work?
- Will exercise or therapy help my symptoms?
- Are there any MS support groups you recommend to help me cope?
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
