Christina Applegate’s teenage daughter, Sadie, recently opened up about how her mother’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis has affected her.
During an appearance on Thursday’s episode of “MeSsy,” the podcast Applegate co-hosts with fellow actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler, the 13-year-old said certain things have been “really difficult” for her since her mother was diagnosed with MS got. in 2021.
“I remember as a kid dancing and stuff in her room for hours every night,” she said.
“It was hard to watch my mother lose many of the skills she had growing up. … It’s just really hard to see her go through this.”
Sadie then explained that it was also “nice” to be able to support her mother in different ways, although she joked that the “Dead to Me” actor isn’t always willing to let her steer when her mother uses a wheelchair.
Applegate, who shares Sadie with husband Martyn LeNoble, later said that as a parent she often feels guilty when she has difficult days with MS.
MS is a condition that affects the brain and spinal cord and causes a wide range of possible symptoms, including numbness, muscle weakness and problems with vision and movement, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
“I don’t want you to ever feel like I’m incapable of being your protector, your mother,” the actor told her daughter. “I love you, I want to make you food, I want to bring it to you, I want to do all the things. And I do that when I can, and I feel incredibly guilty when I can’t.
“But you always act damn cool about it, boy,” Applegate continued.
Elsewhere in the episode, Sadie opened up about some of her own health issues and how they’ve helped her cope with her mother.
She said she was recently diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, a type of autonomic dysfunction that can cause chronic fatigue and dizziness, among other symptoms.
“I feel like I didn’t have this thing [POTS] it would be a lot harder to understand what my mother is going through,” she told Sigler.
Sadie also said she suffers from misophonia, “a condition characterized by a negative emotional/autonomic response to specific everyday sounds,” according to the National Institutes of Health.
Applegate often discusses what it’s like to navigate the symptoms of MS.
In an episode of “MeSsy” that premiered earlier this month, the actor told Sigler that she was suffering from depression.
“It really feels like ‘end of it,'” she said in the episode, which was recorded earlier this year. “I don’t mean that, I just mean that now I’m trapped in this darkness that I haven’t even felt in for I don’t even know how long, probably twenty years.”
She later explained that she focused on being there for her daughter, despite sometimes feeling like she should “just give up”: “If my daughter needs me, I’ll be there for her, and I will do anything for her and do anything for her. doing everything I can.”
If you or someone you know needs help, call or text 988 or chat with 988lifeline.org for mental health support. Additionally, you can find local mental health and crisis resources at dontcallthepolice.com. Outside the US, you can contact the International Association for Suicide Prevention.
