Christina Applegate On Why Showering With MS Is "Frightening"

"There are just certain things that I took for granted."

After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021, the internet praised Christina Applegate for her openness surrounding her diagnosis. In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, the actress got candid again about some of the everyday struggles that come along with the neurological disease.

"With the disease of MS, it's never a good day," she said. "You just have little shitty days. People are like, 'Well, why don't you take more showers?' Well, because getting in the shower is frightening. You can fall, you can slip, your legs can buckle. Especially because I have a glass shower. It's frightening to me to get in there."

"There are just certain things that people take for granted in their lives that I took for granted," she continued. "Going down the stairs, carrying things — you can't do that anymore. It fucking sucks."

But Applegate and her friends and family have made the most out of the situation and found little ways to make tasks easier (like fabulous bedazzled walking canes). She says she's able to drive short distances and can bring food upstairs to her daughter but "never down."

Related:Christina Applegate's SAG Awards Cane Made a Bold Statement on the Red Carpet

"Gravity can just pull you down and take everything down with you," she said. "So, we have this little thing at the top of the stairs that we call 'purgatory.' So if anyone's done with anything upstairs, we put it in purgatory so one of my able friends can bring it downstairs."

Because the actress was diagnosed with the disease — which affects the brain and spinal cord — in the throes of Covid, Applegate keeps her inner circle fairly small due to being "immunocompromised."

"I have my friend who lives here during the week and she helps me take care of Sadie. And then, on the weekend, I have a caretaker," she explained. "I also don't want a lot of stimulation of the nervous system, because it can be a little bit too much for me. I like to keep it as quiet and as mellow as possible."

Public events have also proven to become difficult for Applegate as she says she tends to get overstimulated when there's a lot going on. "It's exhausting," she said. "Imagine just being in a crowd of people and how loud that is. It's like 5,000 times louder for anyone who has lesions on their brains."

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