Christina Applegate Says Bravo Shows Help Her Cope With Her Illness

Christina Applegate has been bravely battling multiple sclerosis for years, and she has openly shared her journey with her fans. She and Jamie-Lynn Singler, who is also dealing with the same illness, have a podcast called MeSsy, where they speak candidly about their struggles, but she’s open about it no matter who she’s talking to.

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During an interview with James Corden, she revealed some of the things that help her cope with the worst moments of her illness, including some of her favorite Bravo shows like Vanderpump Rules and Real Housewives. The actress also shared the emotional moment when she found out about her illness and how she shared the news with her Dead to Me crew.

Christina Applegate Says Reality TV Helps Her Cope With MS

Christina Applegate was on James Corden’s SiriusXM show This Life of Mine and shared some insight on what gets her through the hardest days living with MS. Surprisingly, she said she relies a lot on reality TV. Especially some of Bravo’s most popular shows.

“I find reality television very useful, that’s kind of it for me,” she said.

“Anyone who knows me well knows that it’s on 24/7 in my room because I don’t leave my room very often. I know that sounds really depressing but it’s kind of like, I need to sleep sometimes.”

When asked about what reality shows she preferred, she said she wasn’t picky.

“Give me any of it,” she replied. “Give me a Vanderpump [Rules], give me a Below Deck, give me a [Real] Housewife, even give me Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsay — I’ll watch like nine seasons of that in like two days.”

Christina also opened up about why she loves reality shows and why they’re such good distractions when she’s feeling poorly.

“I love watching the imperfections of real people, really. Like wow, those people exist, I love that. That’s why I love reality TV because they freak me out that they walk this earth acting like that.”

Christina Applegate On Learning Her Diagnosis

Christina Applegate also shared with James Corden the devastating moment when she found out she was suffering from multiple sclerosis. The actress was in the middle of shooting Dead to Me when she finally went to the doctor after having strange symptoms for years but thinking nothing of it.

“For years and years and years, I’d have some weird things like balance issues, speech issues, my hands would shake sometimes,” she shared. “And I remember playing tennis, I played tennis a couple times a week, and my knee would go out. It was like, ‘Oh, I’m dehydrated. It’s too hot out. Whatever.’”

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She decided she needed to go to the doctor when she noticed she couldn’t even walk up the steps of her trailer on set.

“After some tests, they did an MRI in my brain and it was a Monday and we were at work and my doctor said, ‘I really need to get on a Zoom with you to go over your MRI results,’” she recalled. “I remember saying to [crew], ‘I have to leave. I have to go home and be there at seven.’ And they’re like, ‘Well, we have like one more scene to do,’ and I just said, ‘I can’t. I gotta go home.’”

Christina was obviously panicked and devastated when she found out, and she immediately told her castmates and crew.

“I said, ‘You guys, it’s f****** MS.’ And they’re like, ‘Okay, we’re shutting down for the week.’ That was it. And then we were just trying to figure out how to film and stuff, and we did. I mean, we finished it. It took us a long time, but we finished it.”

“I remember that moment like it was yesterday,” she concluded.