Christina Applegate thinks laughter is the best medicine amid her battle with multiple sclerosis.
Applegate, 52, who announced her MS diagnosis in 2021, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday, March 18, and joked about making a funny entrance onto the show.
“I was thinking wouldn’t it be funny if I came out and I did a somersault like Willy Wonka? And then I was like ‘ta-da,’ you’d be [like] ‘What a bitch. She is such a liar,’” the Dead to Me actress told Jimmy Kimmel on Monday. “I’m not. I literally am disabled.”
Kimmel, 56, started laughing and then quipped, “I’ve learned from our text exchanges that you have a very sick sense of humor.”
Applegate agreed with the talk show host noting that it’s “how [she] lives” and “how [she] keeps [herself] OK.”
“I mean, it sucks. I’m not going to lie,” Applegate explained. “And I think anyone who has MS isn’t going to be like, ‘This is the best thing that ever happened to me.’ It really isn’t.”
The Married With Children alum went on to joke that someone who said MS is the best thing to ever happen to them, must have a “really crappy life.”
“The best thing that ever happened to you is something like this,” she said. “That was a joke. You guys don’t get me!”
While Applegate noted that she doesn’t “want” MS nor would she wish it “upon anyone,” it has become her new “normal.”
In 2021, Applegate announced that she was diagnosed with MS and took a step back from acting after wrapping the final season of Dead to Me. Applegate has, however, continued to make appearances at award shows, including during the 2023 Emmys in January.
“Thank you so much. Oh my god, you’re totally shaming my disability by standing up,” Applegate joked as she joined host Anthony Anderson on stage during the ceremony. “Body not by Ozempic. We don’t have to applaud every time I do something.”
Applegate has also been candid about her MS battle through the past few years.
In March, Applegate spoke about how she has managed to live with the condition and how she’s “not putting a timestamp” on her “grieving process” after being diagnosed.
“I’m never going to wake up and go, ‘This is awesome.’ I’m just going to tell you that,” Applegate said during an interview with Good Morning America. “Like it’s just not going to happen. I wake up and I’m reminded of it every day. … But I might get to a place where I will function a little bit better. Right now, I’m isolating. And that’s kind of how I’m dealing with it is by not going anywhere because I don’t want to do it. It’s hard.”
