Christina Applegate pushed through her M.S. diagnosis to film the final season of Dead To Me
The third and final season of Dead To Me premieres later this month
Aux News Christina Applegate
Lifelong actor Christina Applegate received her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in the middle of shooting the third season of Netflix’s Dead To Me. In response to her condition, production for the final season shut down for five months, giving the actor time to begin treatment for the autoimmune disease.
“There was the sense of, ‘Well, let’s get her some medicine so she can get better,’” Applegate says in a new interview with The New York Times. “And there is no better. But it was good for me. I needed to process my loss of my life, my loss of that part of me. So I needed that time.”
“Although it’s not like I came on the other side of it, like, ‘Woohoo, I’m totally fine,’” she adds. “Acceptance? No. I’m never going to accept this. I’m pissed.”
Applegate eventually returned to the set, embarking on what she describes as the hardest thing she’s ever done.
“I had an obligation to Liz and to Linda, to our story,” she says. “The powers that be were like, ‘Let’s just stop. We don’t need to finish it. Let’s put a few episodes together.’ I said, ‘No. We’re going to do it, but we’re going to do it on my terms.’”
Some changes to scenes were made during filming to accommodate Applegate’s needs. Viewers will see her character Jen opening doors in scenes to allow her to lean on them. In general, there are fewer establishing shots that feature Jen walking into a room. Off-screen, Applegate used a wheelchair on set, struggled to maneuver the stairs at her trailer, and, some days, was too ill to film at all.
Akin to their deep and fierce on-screen friendship in Dead To Me, Applegate and co-star Linda Cardellini offered support to one another, with Cardellini often stepping in as her friend’s advocate on set.
“She was my champion, my warrior, my voice,” Applegate says. “It was like having a mama bear.”
“I just wanted the best for the person that I love and care about and have the honor to work with,” Cardellini says of her role.
As Applegate enters the public eye for the first time since her diagnosis, she wants everyone to know that she’s well aware of the physical changes that have occurred over the last year and a half.
“This is the first time anyone’s going to see me the way I am,” she says. “I put on 40 pounds; I can’t walk without a cane. I want people to know that I am very aware of all of that.”
However, when it comes to the changes made on and off-screen to make Dead To Me’s sign-off, Applegate says, “Hopefully people can get past it and just enjoy the ride and say goodbye to these two girls.”
Season three of Dead To Me premieres on Netflix on November 17.
14 Comments
Sorry to hear she is struggling so much. She is incredible on this show. It is a performance I did not know she had in her.
Truly. She lived in her rage in a way that I was really blown away by. It’s a great performance. I’m so sad to hear what she’s dealing with now.
I think it’s great she was able to break free of getting type cast as a Kelly Bundy type.
Yes. I’d leave a room if that came on at anyone’s house. She rose above that beautifully.
Applegate has been dealt bad hands so many times. MS and cancer are both scourges that can’t be wiped out soon enough.
At least she’s not living in a van down by the river
My poor Uncle Rich had MS the whole time i knew him, when i was a kid he used a cane and a walker, as a teen he was in a wheelchair, then an electric one, then he could only really move his hands & head. The slow motion paralysis is horrifying. It’s absolutely atrocious, he was lucky he was an attorney so he could afford treatment for 20 years, but eventually kicked the bucket a few years back, had infinite respect for that man, he was always so optimistic & upbeat with us.But yeah, that’s a seriously shitty diagnosis to get, don’t remember what I’ve seen her in, but i hope she manages to stay happy and healthy for a few decades at least
She has. I didn’t watch any of the Bundy stuff. Her mature works show a great deal of talent and sensitivity. A terrible diagnosis. I hope she can continue to act. We need strong women in Hollywood.
I remember having a crush on her when I was growing up because of Married with Children, and as I got older she was in less and less stuff, but she was always so good. The Sweetest Thing is still one of the random movies I think is so underrated and she kills it in that lol
YES – My wife and I both adore that movie. She is amazing in everything – I am so glad she didn’t get typecast forever from Married With Children because she is way too good for that type of role. And I am so sorry to hear she has MS as well as the cancer she already fought off.
The unrated cut of The Sweetest Thing is lit.
“I put on 40 pounds; I can’t walk without a cane. I want people to know that I am very aware of all of that.” This is so crappy that she has to say that, but it’s a fact of life that for some reason, people have to point out the obvious. Google doctors are going to be all over themselves with advice.
I knew she had it and it doesn’t end well for people. But I didn’t think she was at this bad a stage already.
I’m not sure I’ve seen Applegate in anything other than Dead to Me, but she is terrific in it. It’s awful that this is happening to her, but –
Applegate used a wheelchair on set, struggled to maneuver the stairs at her trailer
Some Teamster couldn’t rig up a ramp for her damn trailer?