Why Is Christina Applegate Using a Cane? ‘Getting In The Shower Is Frightening’
She made a surprise appearance at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, nominated for lead actress in a comedy series, with an accessory that some fans weren’t expecting. The reason why Christina Applegate was using a cane is something that dates back to her final series on Dead To Me.
Born November 25, 1971, Applegate is an American actress and producer. She gained fame for her role as Kelly Bundy on the Fox sitcom Married… with Children, in which she starred from 1987 to 1997. Applegate has also appeared in numerous films and television shows, including Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.
In an interview with Variety in November 2022, she revealed that her character on Netflix’s dark comedy series Dead To Me, Jen Harding, would likely be her last due to a medical diagnosis she received during the third and final season’s filming. “We have to finish this story. It’s too important to our hearts; too important to our souls. And we have to give this gift, not only to ourselves — there are people that love these characters, and we’ve got to let them have their closure too.’,” she said. “So, if that meant me having to take a break in the middle of the day so I could go sleep — or me just leaving because I couldn’t do anymore — then that’s what we had to do.” Here’s why Christina Applegate is using a cane.
Why is Christina Applegate using a cane?
Why is Christina Applegate using a cane? The actor was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in August of 2021. It’s a degenerative disease that affects the brain and central nervous system, and it can affect balance and coordination. There is no cure, but it can be managed through medication and physical therapy.
During the 75th Emmys, Applegate received a standing ovation when she walked out onto the stage to present the first award of the evening. “Oh my God, you’re totally shaming me with disability by standing up. It’s fine… Body not by Ozempic!” she quipped. “We don’t have to applaud every time I do something.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, “signs and symptoms of MS vary widely between patients and depend on the location and severity of nerve fiber damage in the central nervous system. Some people with severe MS may lose the ability to walk independently or ambulate at all. Other individuals may experience long periods of remission without any new symptoms depending on the type of MS they have.”
During an interview with Vanity Fair in May 2023, Applegate described how her life had changed since her diagnosis. “With the disease of MS, it’s never a good day. You just have little shitty days. People are like, ‘Well, why don’t you take more showers?’ Well, because getting in the shower is frightening. You can fall, you can slip, your legs can buckle. Especially because I have a glass shower. It’s frightening to me to get in there,” she said. “There are just certain things that people take for granted in their lives that I took for granted. Going down the stairs, carrying things—you can’t do that anymore. It f—king sucks. I can still drive my car short distances. I can bring up food to my kid. Up, never down.”
She continued: “Gravity can just pull you down and take everything down with you. So we have this little thing at the top of the stairs that we call ‘purgatory.’ So if anyone’s done with anything upstairs, we put it in purgatory so one of my able friends can bring it downstairs.”
In an interview with the New York Times, Applegate revealed production of the final season of Dead To Me stopped for about five months while she received treatment. “There was the sense of, ‘Well, let’s get her some medicine so she can get better,’” she recalled. “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.” She continued: “Although it’s not like I came on the other side of it, like, ‘Woohoo, I’m totally fine,’” she added. “Acceptance? No. I’m never going to accept this. I’m pissed.”
Dead To Me season 3, the show’s final season, hit Netflix in November 2022, but Applegate didn’t watch it. “I don’t like seeing myself struggling,” she explained to the Los Angeles Times. “Also, I gained 40 pounds because of inactivity and medications, and I didn’t look like myself, and I didn’t feel like myself.” She added that eventually, she watched it alone. “At some point I was able to distance myself from my own ego, and realize what a beautiful piece of television it was. All the scenes I wasn’t in were so much fun to see and experience for the very first time,” she said.
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