'It's been a tough road': Christina Applegate, 49, reveals she has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
Christina Applegate has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis - ten years after she underwent a double mastectomy to treat breast cancer.
She wrote: 'Hi friends. A few months ago I was diagnosed with MS. It’s been a strange journey. But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition.
'It’s been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going. Unless some a****** blocks it.'
Brave: Christina Applegate has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (pictured September 2019)
Speaking out: The 49-year-old actress revealed on Twitter that she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease 'a few months ago' and admitted it has been 'a tough road' since then
She continued: 'As one of my friends that has MS said, "we wake up and take the indicated action”. And that’s what I do. So now I ask for privacy. As I go through this thing. Thank you xo.'
According to the National MS Society the disease is an 'unpredictable disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body.'
The condition can cause problems with vision, arm or leg movement, sensation and balance.
It is treatable in most cases, though life expectancy is slightly reduced. It is twice or three times more common in women than men.
Applegate (pictured in September 2020) asked for privacy 'as she goes through this thing', but insisted that she is determined to keep fighting the illness
Although Applegate did not reveal the identity of the friend and fellow MS sufferer she spoke to, the mother-of-one is known to be very close with fellow actress Selma Blair, who also struggles with the illness.
Blair, also 49, who starred alongside Applegate in the 2002 movie The Sweetest Thing, went public with her own diagnosis in 2018 and has since openly documented the ups and downs of her condition on social media and in interviews.
Applegate, who shares a daughter Sadie, ten, with her second husband, Dutch musician Martyn LeNoble, has previously been very candid about her health battles over the years.
In 2008, she revealed that she had undergone a double mastectomy to treat breast cancer, explaining that she made the decision to have the surgery because she wanted to ensure that she wouldn't have to deal with the risk of the disease spreading in the future.
'It came on really fast. It was one of those things that I woke up and it felt so right,' Applegate told CNN of her decision to have a mastectomy.
'It just seemed like, "I don't want to have to deal with this again. I don't want to keep putting that stuff in my body. I just want to be done with this," and I was just going to let them go.'
Then, in 2018, she revealed that she'd had both of her ovaries and her fallopian tubes removed in order to 'take control' of her health and reduce the risk of another cancer diagnosis.
Christina Applegate's 'tough road ahead': What is multiple sclerosis and what are the symptoms?
MS is a condition that can affect the brain and spinal cord, causing a wide range of potential symptoms, including problems with vision, arm or leg movement, sensation or balance.
The immune system attacks the protective sheath that covers nerve fibers and causes communication problems between your brain and the rest of your body.
It's a lifelong condition that can sometimes cause serious disability, although it can occasionally be mild.
A study of the incidence of MS, developed in conjunction with Public Health England , estimates that 18% of total MS diagnoses in the UK are in people age 30 or under. This is compared to the previous estimate of only 12%.
There are 130,000 people living with MS in the UK and, in the last year alone, the charity estimates more than 1,250 people under 30 have been diagnosed. It is the most common progressive neurological condition in young people today.
When diagnosed with MS, no one can predict how the condition will affect you, how disabled you will become, or how quickly, and tens of thousands of people still have no treatment to help as their MS advances.
Family: Applegate is mother to daughter Sadie, now ten, whom she shares with her second husband Martyn LeNoble (pictured together in 2015)
'Two weeks ago, I had my ovaries and tubes removed,' she told the Today show at the time. 'My cousin passed away from ovarian cancer in 2008. I could prevent that. That's how I've taken control of everything.'
She added that she felt 'relief' after undergoing the procedure, having tested positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation - which greatly increases a woman's risk of breast and ovarian cancer - back in 2008 when she received her breast cancer diagnosis.
Following her double mastectomy, Applegate revealed that she had completely overhauled her lifestyle in order to eliminate as many chemicals as possible from her diet, while also focusing on reducing her daily stress.
'We grow our own vegetables. That’s not an option for everyone. But just get a tomato plant! We're a 100 per cent organic house,' she at the time, noting that her daughter Sadie was also following a similar plant-based diet.
'My daughter is a vegetarian and practically vegan. That’s her choice. That’s how she eats. We’re really conscious about what we buy. Get some kale! Plant some green kale in your backyard and throw it into everything.'
Since then, Applegate has been an outspoken advocate for other women with the illness - while also helping to raise awareness of the importance of self checks and regular mammograms.
Speaking about her decision to go public about her salpingectomy, Applegate said she was inspired by her daughter Sadie, whose father is Dutch musician Martyn LeNoble, the actress's second husband with whom she tied the knot in 2013.
Family celebration: Applegate's close friend and The Sweetest Thing co-star Selma Blair, 49 has also been diagnosed with MS, and she went public with her condition back in 2018
Applegate and Blair appeared together in the 2002 comedy The Sweetest Thing with Cameron Diaz, and they have remained close ever since
'I love my kid … more than I’ve ever known possible. Like, humanly possible,' the actress said to People in 2016.
The Emmy-winning TV star, who first rose to fame while staring on the sitcom Married With Children from 1987 to 1997, was previously married to actor Johnathon Schaech, who is now on his third wife, from 2001 until 2007.
Though she has not appeared on film or TV since last year, and described herself jokingly as 'semi-retired' in Entertainment Weekly, Applegate has several projects in the works.
She has been busy filming the third and final season of the dark comedy Dead To Me, in which she stars alongside Linda Cardellini as a widow who bonds with another woman she meets in grief therapy.
Applegate is also slated to play the leading role of a bereaved psychologist in a TV movie called Your Time Is Up, written by actress Kathleen Robertson.
It is unclear whether her role in the movie, which is currently in pre-production, will be affected by her recent diagnosis.
As with many autoimmune disease, MS impacts many of its sufferers in different ways, with some left struggling to walk and talk properly, while others experience milder symptoms.
Condition: Celebrities who have been diagnosed with MS include host Montel Williams (left in 2019) and Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn Sigler (pictured 2020)
As well as Applegate's close friend Blair, several other celebrities have spoken out about their own diagnoses, including TV host Montel Williams, Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn Sigler, and rockstar Ozzy Osbourne's son Jack.
Blair shocked fans when she went public with her diagnosis back in 2018, explaining at the time that she believed she had been unknowingly struggling with the illness for the past two decades.
While sharing the news of her diagnosis on Instagram, the actress revealed that her MS had left her unable to complete daily tasks - like dressing herself on the set of her Netflix show Another Life.
She shared that she'd had 'symptoms for years' but didn't take any of them 'seriously' until she visited her doctor, Jason Berkley, brother of former Saved by the Bell star Elizabeth Berkey.
'The biggest thanks to @elizberkley who forced me to see her brother #drjasonberkley who gave me this diagnosis after finding lesions on that MRI,' she wrote.
'I have had symptoms for years but was never taken seriously until I fell down in front of him trying to sort out what I thought was a pinched nerve.'
Speaking about the symptoms that she was experiencing, Blaire revealed that she was 'disabled' and struggling with brain 'fog', writing: '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.'