Christina Applegate says her MS battle has ‘broken’ her teenage daughter

Christina Applegate admits her teenage daughter has lost the mother she once knew to MS.

Christina Applegate says her battle with MS has “broken” her daughter Sadie.

The Dead to Me star was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) – a chronic autoimmune disease that affects the brain and central nervous system – in 2021, and she has detailed how her 14-year-old girl has struggled to see her mom lose control of her movement as she’s gotten older.

Speaking to co-host Jamie Lynn Sigler on their podcast MeSsy, she said: “In my situation, Sadie only knew me as healthy, and a runner, and a Pelotoner and a dancer, and she only knew that.

“So then when this came about, 2021, she was like stoic about it.

“And now, I see her look at me when I’m in bed and can’t quite move, or I wanna go say goodnight to her in her room, but I can’t quite get down the hallway for whatever reason that my legs aren’t working that day. Right now I can barely get to bathroom, it’s the worst, but that’s neither here nor there. It’s broken her.

“She didn’t know this. It was like losing the mom she had to this f****** thing. And the more she’s gotten older now, I think the more it’s hurting her.”

The Married… with Children actress, 53, added that Sadie – whose father is Dutch musician Martyn LeNoble – does all she can to help her mom and she is grateful because leaving the house can cause her “anxiety”.

Christina went on: “Also I was diagnosed in 2021 so we had just gone through COVID and no school and all this stuff and now mommy can’t do all the things that she used to be able to do and I see it in her eyes. I see it.

“But you know what’s really beautiful? When we’re out, she knows I’m having such a hard time because I have such anxiety about being out. And she’s always got my arm.

“She’s always trying to help me through and help me with my cane and and all this stuff. At home, she’s like, ‘Can you please go down and make my food cause you’re the only one who can make it.’

“She’s like, ‘You’re going down all the steps.’ And I’m like, ‘Sadie, I can’t make it down the f****** steps.’ But I do it. I do it because I know that it’s like she’s like checking in to make sure, ‘Can she still take care of me?'”