Back in 2021, actor Christina Applegate revealed that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and since then, she has been incredibly open about how her life has been impacted by the autoimmune disease, which affects her brain and central nervous system.
Just last month, the 53-year-old star shared that her 14-year-old daughter, Sadie, has struggled to cope with the change in her mom. During an episode of Kelly Ripa’s Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast, Christina said of Sadie: “She’s the reason I’m still here and trying.”
But she then revealed the comment that Sadie made during a fight that left her devastated. She said: “We got in a big thing the other day. Sorry, Sadie, but it has to be said. She says: ‘I miss who you were before you got sick.’”
Sadie would have been 10 years old when her mom was diagnosed, and Christina acknowledged this as she shared: “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 want to 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 the bathroom, it’s the worst, but that’s neither here nor there. It’s broken her,” Christina went on.
“She didn’t know this. It was like losing the mom she had to this fucking thing,” the star added. “And the more she’s gotten older now, I think the more it’s hurting her.”
“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,” Christina continued.
“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 then shared. “She’s always trying to help me through and help me with my cane 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,’” Christina said. “She’s like: ‘You’re going down all the steps.’ And I’m like: ‘Sadie, I can’t make it down the fucking steps.’ But I do it. I do it because I know that it’s like she’s checking in to make sure: ‘Can she still take care of me?'”