How Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler Are ‘Helping Each Other Through’ MS: ‘We Both Needed This’ (Exclusive)

It’s raining in the Hollywood Hills outside Christina Applegate’s house as the actress rests her head on Jamie-Lynn Sigler’s shoulder.

Holding Sigler’s hand, Applegate explains that it was a rough few days leading up to this, her first photo shoot in four years: “For the last five days I was sobbing, ‘I’m going to have to cancel.’ I threw up last night thinking about it all. The touch, the make-up and the hair, even talking about it, gives me cramps. Strange positions, shoes, people, noise, climate I can’t control. Everything goes through my head and I want to go back to bed and watch Naked and scared.”

She joins hands with Sigler, who is making a rare visit from her home in Austin. “I wouldn’t be doing it today without her.” Sigler rubs his hand. “But you did it,” she tells Applegate. “We did it. Much more is possible.”

That optimism has been a lifesaver for Applegate since the actress’ mutual friend Lance Bass put them in touch in 2021 after Applegate was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis while filming her Netflix series. Dead to me. “If I didn’t have her, I wouldn’t be able to do this life thing,” Applegate, 52, says.

For Sigler, 42, who learned she had MS more than two decades ago when she starred in the The Soprano family, Applegate’s raw honesty and humor in dealing with the disease was liberating. (“Even when the day is ‘active’, MS is there. It just is less sh—y,” says Applegate.) Now the two are sharing their journey in a new podcast, MeSsydebuts March 19.

The podcast will draw on the musings of famous friends and former stars, including Martin Short and Edie Falco, and provide an unflinching yet humorous look at life with MS and the broader challenges and life issues Sigler and Applegate face on a daily basis.

Says Sigler, “The way Christina allows me to talk about difficult things is something I desperately needed.”

“It can be easy to forget all the other parts of you and let this disease define you,” says Sigler (with Applegate in LA on March 6). “It’s important as Christina’s friend to remind her of her greatness.”

John Russo

Christina Applegate & Jamie-Lynn Sigler Share How MS ‘Bringed Us Together’ — And Inspired Their New Podcast (Exclusive)

You have become close friends. What clicked?

JAMIE-LYNN SIGLER: We are in two very different places with MS, but we help each other. Christina opened me up. I didn’t realize how desperately I needed to stop trying to be perfect. One thing I haven’t done in the last 23 years is admit that it was hard, because I didn’t want to let anyone down.

CHRISTINA APPLEGATE: She’s the only person who really knows me. I can talk to her about anything. Constipation, diarrhea. . . Good TV.

Christina, you called your MS diagnosis “devastating.” How are you today?

APPLEGATE: My symptoms are worse in the morning, like crazy. Pain and numbness and balance. It’s terrible. So of course, first thing in the morning I’m really angry about everything. But I don’t always want to be like this. And I know I won’t, because I have my hero here [pointing to Jamie]. I know I will live long enough. . . [her voice catches] experience your child and the things he will do. And I have to be here, so I have to fight. I have to fight.

You were hospitalized for symptoms, correct?

APPLEGATE: Many times. They don’t know what’s wrong, but we’re pretty sure my stomach and intestines aren’t very good friends. It causes me intense pain and vomiting. I gained 45 lbs. when I was diagnosed, from steroids and lack of mobility. It’s just a body that doesn’t feel right. And I lost 30 something. People ask, “What have you been doing?” And I say, “I throw up.” Not Ozempic. Lying.

Applegate paused to shift on the couch.

APPLEGATE: Sorry, my legs are so uncomfortable right now.

SIGLER: Do you want to stretch?

APPLEGATE: Thanks, Mom. Are your legs okay?

SIGLER: Good.

APPLEGATE: You are so good at MS.

SIGLER: I had more time.

APPLICATIONS: [Sighs] I want to be good at it too.

Christina Applegate says she ‘doesn’t put a time stamp’ on grieving after MS diagnosis: ‘It’s hard’

“We found each other when we needed each other,” says Sigler of Applegate, LA

John Russo

Jamie, your sons Beau and Jack are 10 and 6 years old. Christina, your daughter Sadie is 13 years old. How does MS affect parenting?

APPLEGATE: My daughter had to see the loss of her mother, the way I was a mom with her. I dance with her every day. Pick her up from school every day. He works in his school, he works in the library. To be present, outside the house, outside your bed. She doesn’t see those things anymore. If he walks into my room and sees me lying on my side, he knows he can’t ask me for anything. And that breaks me. Because I like doing things for my child. I love making her food and bringing it to her, but sometimes I just can’t. But I’m trying. I am trying.

SIGLER: My kids only know me with MS. They know that some things are difficult for me, and they don’t come to me anymore. Many times I can’t muster up the energy.

APPLEGATE: It’s heartbreaking when you have to tell them, “I can’t.” As a mother, that is the worst feeling in the world. You should be their protector in life. When you have to say, “I can’t,” it tears your soul apart. [She wipes away tears.] I’m sorry. It freaks me out every day.

How did your husbands support you? [Sigler has been married to former MLB player Cutter Dykstra, 34, since 2016; Applegate has been married to bassist Martyn LeNoble, 54, since 2013.]

SIGLER: They see that we are strong women and they know that we wouldn’t ask for help if we didn’t need it. My husband was too eager to help. I almost felt, “I need you to see me as your wife, not always as someone who needs help.” That’s why we had to go to therapy. He felt like MS was the other woman in the relationship, and that was all he saw. When you live with a chronic illness, everyone in your intimate circle is affected by it. Accommodations must be made for this.

APPLEGATE: What makes you feel terrible. I don’t want it to be like that. It’s bullshit. Last year we went to Europe and there was a lot of walking. Some days they wanted to do fun things, and I’d have to say, “I don’t want to be a burden, so I’ll stay at the hotel.” But my husband always wanted to hold my hand when we walked. Sometimes I feel like he was doing it because I was so slow! He’s trying to speed me up. But it was very sweet. Just a little twitch.

SIGLER: For me, my husband’s hand was my walking stick for many years. Until I was willing to pick up the stick.

Christina Applegate Says She ‘Swamped Up’ During Emmys Appearance But ‘Feeling Really Loved’ Amid MS Journey

Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler.

John Russo

What are some of the challenges of your life with MS that people don’t understand?

SIGLER: Go ahead, say it.

APPLEGATE: Well, you pee. . . in pants. Because you probably can’t make it to the bathroom in time. Well, yes, diapers. Applegate pulls up the waistband of her jeans to peek at her pair, which feature a floral design.

SIGLER: And we have a bone to pick with the designers, because who wants a beautiful flower on their diaper? It should really say “Y— my life.”

APPLEGATE: But MS has some advantages. First of all, the parking is great.

SIGLER: There could be a cure for MS, and I’m not going to give up my handicap poster. We deserved it!

APPLEGATE: And wheelchair seats—great. Before the boarding house— great. Wheelchairs throughout the airport. . .

SIGLER: But I put my hat down. I’m embarrassed.

APPLEGATE I’m wearing a mask. I don’t let people see.

Because of who you are, people might see you as a role model for MS.

APPLEGATE: Oh God, yes. People say, “Can you talk about this thing?” And I’ll say, “No, because I’m not inspiring.” I can not do it.

SIGLER: None of us signed up to be the poster boy for this.

APPLEGATE: I’m not your girlfriend yet. Give me a minute. This is new. Not even three years.

Christina, after Dead to me, you said you can’t act anymore. Do you still feel that way?

APPLEGATE: I don’t know. On Dead to me, I had the support I needed and I needed all of myself to do it. I don’t think I’ll ever have a kit that will be that accommodating again. so I’m afraid. I don’t know if anyone will accept me the way I am now. But if I can’t do it again, it honestly hurts my heart. I miss her . . . of course i miss it.

SIGLER: All I want is for her to remember how incredibly special she is. I keep telling her, “You’re Christina’s mother—from Applegate!” So now I’m keeping big dreams for both of us.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler Says She’s ‘Living a Very Full Life’ Despite Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis (Exclusive)

“This is our chance to give people a front-row seat to the reality of MS,” says Applegate, with Sigler in LA

John Russo

For now, you have your own podcast. Where did the idea for MeSsy come from?

APPLEGATE: We would talk on the phone for hours, laughing and crying. And then we said: “This helps us. Let’s record this.”

SIGLER: We started recording every week a year ago. We share the deepest parts of ourselves — and I’m someone who tried not to do that for a long time, so this is healing.

APPLEGATE: I’ve spent my career pretending to be someone else to everyone in the public eye. I don’t have time to be inauthentic anymore. It’s exhausting.

You talk about MS, but it’s not a podcast about your disease. Why not?

APPLEGATE: That would be boring. I don’t want to talk about it that much.

SIGLER: MS brought us together, but it’s not all about us. It’s a starting point for talking about how to push through something that’s difficult.

APPLEGATE: It’s important to be honest. It’s okay to be afraid. It’s okay to be angry. At some point you have to get your big girl panties on. . .

SIGLER: Or it depends on you.

APPLEGATE: Raise your depends. In the meantime, we’ve helped each other so much, why shouldn’t we help some other people as well?

SIGLER: It helps me believe that there is something good we can do about this disease.

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Source: HIS Education