Christina Applegate Says Her Daughter Has "Seen the Loss of Her Mom" Amid MS Battle
"She knows she can’t ask me to do anything. And that breaks me."
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Since being diagnosed with MS, Christina Applegate has been relatively open about her struggles with the chronic disease. After recent appearances at the Oscars and on Good Morning America, the Married...With Children actress opened up to People alongside Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn Sigler and shed light on what life and parenting with the condition is like.
Ahead of the interview, Applegate revealed that she panicked over potentially needing to cancel her conversation with Sigler. “The last five days, I’ve been sobbing, going, ‘I’m going to have to cancel.’ I was throwing up last night, thinking about all of it," she explained. "Being touched, makeup and hair, even talking about it, I get spasms. Weird positions, shoes, people, noise, climate I can’t control. It all goes through my mind, and I want to go back to bed and watch Naked and Afraid.”
Sigler, who also struggles with MS, has been a support system to Applegate, with the 52-year-old calling Sigler her "hero." "I know I’ll live a long enough life . . . [her voice catches] to experience my kid and the things she’s going to do," she added. "And I need to be here, so I’ve got to fight. I got to fight.
Related: Christina Applegate Says She's Still Grieving Her MS Diagnosis
Parenting, however, comes with its own set of complications — Applegate revealed that living with MS is most heartbreaking when it comes to supporting her 13-year-old daughter, Sadie Grace.
"My daughter’s had to see the loss of her mom, in the way that I was a mom with her," she admitted. "Dancing with her every day. Picking her up from school every day. Working at her school, working in the library. Being present, out of the house, out of my bed. She doesn’t see those things anymore. If she comes in my room and sees I’m laying on my side, she knows she can’t ask me to do anything. And that breaks me. Because I love doing stuff for my kid. I love making her food and bringing it to her, but I just can’t sometimes. But I try. I try."
In light of their experience with MS, Sigler and Applegate have managed to forge a bond with each other where they both get to be open and understanding about their condition. "We’re in two very different places with MS, but we help each other. Christina opened me up," Sigler admitted. "I didn’t realize how desperately I needed to stop trying to be perfect. One thing I haven’t done in the last 23 years is admit it was hard, because I didn’t want to let anyone down."
Related: Christina Applegate Says She "Blacked Out" During Her Standing Ovation at the Emmys
Applegate added, "She’s the only person who really knows me. I can talk about anything with her. Constipation, diarrhea . . . Bravo TV."
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