Christina Applegate said Tuesday that she was told she does not have multiple sclerosis, roughly five years after she publicly announced that she had been diagnosed with the disease. The 54-year-old actress shared the news on a two-episode release of MeSsy, the podcast she co-hosts with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, according to CBS News. Applegate had stepped away from the show for several weeks and said she used that time to absorb the new information.
Applegate described how the reassessment came about. She said that a few years ago her physician wanted to pause an infusion therapy to observe how her B cells responded. When the treatment stopped, her cell count stayed flat, which she said set off what amounted to an examination of her original diagnosis. In time, her doctor delivered the news.
Applegate recalled the moment on the podcast: her physician entered the room and told her she did not have MS. Her reaction was not relief. "I was, like, not happy at all," she said, adding that those around her were delighted while she was not, CBS News reports.
Why it matters
Multiple sclerosis is a condition in which the immune system turns on the central nervous system. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society notes that symptoms differ widely between patients, that several forms of the disease exist, that no cause has been identified, and that its course cannot be forecast. Because there is no single definitive test, telling MS apart from other neurological conditions is difficult — a point raised on the podcast by Dr. Marwa Kaisey, an associate professor in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's neurology department. Kaisey said nearly one in five people who have been given an MS diagnosis did not actually have the disease, and she described such errors as relatively common.
Applegate's case carries unusual weight because she became one of the most visible voices on MS after her diagnosis. She has spoken publicly about her symptoms, raised money and awareness, and used her platform to push for research. On Tuesday she said the reversal left her feeling as though she had disappointed the community she had come to represent.
A diagnosis revisited, but symptoms that remain
According to Applegate, her original diagnosis followed a battery of tests that included a spinal tap and MRI scans, with imaging showing lesions on her brain. She said she still deals with severe symptoms that limit her movement and her day-to-day life. Rather than improving once the MS label was removed, she said her condition has deteriorated.
"You don't get misdiagnosed and then all of the sudden I'm better," she said on the podcast. "If anything, I've gotten worse." She described herself as starting over, with no explanation yet for what has been affecting her since 2021, and said her doctors will now undertake a fresh investigation to determine what is actually wrong.
Applegate has previously described numbness, a sense of being off balance, and tingling in her limbs. In a 2022 interview with The New York Times, she said she could not walk unaided and relied on a cane; she also said she used a wheelchair while filming the Netflix series Dead to Me, and that the show's scripts were revised around her symptoms. In 2023 she raised the possibility of stepping away from on-camera acting. On Tuesday she said she attends physical therapy three sessions a week.
The disclosure adds a complicated chapter to a public health story that has unfolded largely in front of audiences. Applegate's advocacy gave her a platform few patients have, and the news that her diagnosis was incorrect raises questions about how MS is identified in the first place — questions Kaisey addressed directly on the podcast. For Applegate herself, the practical problem is unchanged: she still needs an answer for symptoms that have not gone away.
What to watch: whether Applegate's doctors identify the condition behind her symptoms, and whether her experience prompts wider discussion about how MS is diagnosed.
