More than three years after going public with her multiple sclerosis diagnosis, Christina Applegate continues to reflect on her earliest experiences with the disease.
On Tuesday’s episode of her “MeSsy” podcast, the actor recalled experiencing one of the first symptoms of multiple sclerosis, or MS, while filming the pilot episode of the smash Netflix series “Dead to Me.”
In conversation with “Dead to Me” creator Liz Feldman, Applegate discussed a scene from the episode that required her to run across a field, saying, “I remember falling that day. Hi, first signs of MS!”
Feldman, meanwhile, assumed the actor was just fatigued due to the series’ rigorous shooting schedule.
“I remember you losing your balance a couple of times, but it was very hard to figure out,” she said. “I remember one time it was like really late at night, we’d been shooting probably 14 or 15 hours, it seemed completely reasonable that anybody would be collapsing.”
“It was MS,” Applegate clarified.
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“Dead to Me,” which aired from 2019 to 2022, follows Jen Harding (Applegate), a California widow who strikes up a close friendship with Judy Hale (Linda Cardellini), who is purportedly mourning the death of her fiancé, in a grief support group. As details about the death of Jen’s husband emerge, however, the two women’s lives become entangled in darkly comedic ways.
Applegate announced she’d been diagnosed with MS in August 2021. The disease attacks the central nervous system and impairs communication between the body and the brain, with symptoms including tremors, fatigue, vision loss, slurred speech and weakness in the limbs.
Production on the third season of “Dead to Me” was significantly delayed in order to allow Applegate to focus on her health. Though her illness wasn’t incorporated into her character’s storyline, the actor described filming the series’ final episodes as the hardest thing she’s ever done.
“The powers that be were like, ‘Let’s just stop. We don’t need to finish it. Let’s put a few episodes together,’” she told The New York Times in 2022. “I said, ‘No. We’re going to do it, but we’re going to do it on my terms.’”
In an emotional “Good Morning America” chat that aired earlier this year, Applegate said she was brought to the “Dead to Me” set in a wheelchair.
Feldman, for her part, said she “always tried to put [Applegate’s] health first” after learning of the actor’s diagnosis, noting in her appearance on “MeSsy”: “I can’t compare it to any experience I’ve ever gone through with a person before.”
Listen to Liz Feldman’s “MeSsy” chat with Christina Applegate below. Their comments on the “Dead to Me” pilot appear around the 12:44 mark.