Actress Christina Applegate announces she has multiple sclerosis: “It’s been a tough road”

Emmy Award-winning actress Christina Applegate, known for her starring roles in “Married with Children,” “Dead to Me” and “Samantha Who?” revealed that she has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease in which the body’s immune system attacks the central nervous system.

“A few months ago I was diagnosed with MS,” Applegate tweeted. “It’s been a strange journey…It’s been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going. Unless some a**hole blocks it.” 

“As one of my friends that MS said ‘we wake up and take the indicated action,’” Applegate continued. “And that’s what I do. So now I ask for privacy. As I go through this thing.” 

Those diagnosed with MS typically have one of four types of the disease, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The four types range in severity but there is no way to predict how an individual’s disease will progress and symptoms vary from one person to another.

Applegate has not said which type of MS she was diagnosed with. 

The cause of multiple sclerosis is unknown, according to the NMSS, although research has indicated that a mix of environmental and genetic factors may be risk factors. 

More than 2.3 million people have MS worldwide, according to NMSS, including several other celebrities. Actress Selma Blair spoke out about her own diagnosis in 2018 while she was filming a show for Netflix. 

“I am in an exacerbation,” Blair wrote on Instagram. “…I have a job. A wonderful job. I am disabled. I fall sometimes. I drop things. My memory is foggy. And my left side is asking for directions from a broken gps. But we are doing it. And I laugh and I don’t know exactly what I will do precisely but I will do my best.”

Li Cohen

Li Cohen is a social media producer and trending reporter for CBS News, focusing on social justice issues.