Christina Applegate: 'My Humor Shield Keeps Me Ok' Amid Crippling MS Battle

Christina Applegate won’t let her Multiple sclerosis take the wind out of her sails.

The actress, who got her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this year, opened up about her MS battle and what’s getting her through the tough times.

Applegate appeared on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” on Friday, December 23rd, and spoke about the impact humor is having on her MS.

A bare-faced Kelly Clarkson asked Applegate, “Are you someone who is naturally optimistic when you’re sick or when you’re fighting something, because I go to humor, and very dark humor. I don’t know how you deal with things.”

The “Sweetest Thing” actress responded, “Yeah, my humor shield keeps me ok. Um, but of course down on the insides you feel the things and I do it to kind of deflect and make people not be scared to be around me.”

Applegate walks with a cane due to her MS, and she explained that people now see her as a “disabled person.”

“I want them to feel comfortable that we can laugh about it,” she continued. “I have a song that I wrote called, ‘Disaby Baby, hurry down the chimney tonight. I can’t cause my wheelchair won’t fit down it.’”

Clarkson loved the dark humor of Applegate’s holiday jingle; however, she did get serious about being diagnosed and living with MS.

“To be honest, being diagnosed with MS last year and what had happened to my body, to my mind, to my spirit, to my everything… of course I didn’t want to be around anyone or talk about it. But, I had to go through work. I wasn’t forced to work, but I made sure we finish the show,” she said.

The show Applegate is referring to is season three of “Dead to Me” on Netflix starring Linda Cardellini and James Mardsen.

“I pushed as hard as I could through that and it was really, incredibly difficult, and I went to sleep for a few months. Then all of a sudden I had to come out again and be this person that, you know, people had seen me as this person for almost the last 40 years and I’m different now,” Applegate explained. “I don’t want to be the fish in the fish tank, but you know, I’m gonna do my best just to get through it.

Applegate showed her humorous side during her Walk of Fame ceremony. She opted to take the stand without her shoes and made sure to point that out.

“You’re gonna shift the disabled lady over,” she joked before adding, “Oh by the way, I have a disease. Did you not notice? I’m not even wearing shoes. Anywho, you’re supposed to laugh at that.”

In an interview with Variety, Applegate discussed her next steps for her acting career following her MS diagnosis.

The actress was diagnosed with the condition in August 2021 while filming season three of Netflix’s “Dead To Me,” which made the remaining portions of the production challenging to complete.

As she manages the symptoms of a reportedly incurable condition, Applegate claims she is still figuring out what she can and cannot do.

She admitted, per People, “I’m so new in this right now. It takes time to kind of figure out this disease, and figure out what’s bringing on symptoms. I’m just a newbie to all of this.”