Christina Applegate’s daughter went from ‘stoic’ to ‘broken’ over MS diagnosis

Christina Applegate continues to open up about how her multiple sclerosis diagnosis is affecting her role as a mom.

On the Aug. 26 episode of her “MeSsy” podcast with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, the 53-year-old “Dead to Me” actress spoke about how her daughter’s feelings about the diagnosis are changing as she gets older.

While she says her daughter was once “stoic” about the condition, that optimism has since faded.

“Sadie only knew me as healthy and a runner and a Pelotoner and a dancer,” she said of her daughter prior to the multiple sclerosis diagnosis, which Applegate announced in an X post in August 2021.

“She only knew that. So then, when this came about (in) 2021, she was stoic about it,” Applegate added.

“And now, I see her look at me when I’m in bed and can’t quite move, or I wanna go say goodnight to her in her room, but I can’t quite get down the hallway for whatever reason,” she continued.

“It’s broken her,” she added. “It’s like losing the mom she had.”

Applegate shares her 14-year-old daughter Sadie with her husband Martyn LeNoble, whom she has been married to since 2013, according to People.

The “Anchorman” actress went on to say that the older her daughter gets, the more the MS diagnosis is “hurting” her.

Sigler described it as a “very harsh reality for our children” as they realize that the disease isn’t something that can be cured and is something their parent will live with for the rest of their life.

Sigler, a fellow actress and mom of two, was diagnosed with MS more than two decades ago, according to USA Today.

“It’s a lot for them to take on,” Applegate said — arguing that it didn’t help that her diagnosis came at the end of the pandemic when kids weren’t going to school and couldn’t live a normal life.

“And now Mommy can’t do all the things that she used to be able to do,” she continued.

Christina Applegate says there’s a ‘beautiful’ side to her relationship with Sadie

Christina Applegate’s MS comments come one month after she shared similar sentiments on the July 29 episode of Kelly Ripa’s “Let’s Talk Off Camera” podcast.

At one point during the episode, Applegate shared a recent conversation she had with her daughter.

“She said, ‘I missed who you were before you got sick,’” Applegate recalled. “That is just like a knife to the heart because I miss who I was before I got sick too. Very much.”

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, MS is a chronic disease of the central nervous system in which the body’s immune system attacks itself by mistake.

Though symptoms are unpredictable and most people have a different experience with it, common symptoms include numbness, weakness, trouble walking, vision changes and more, per Johns Hopkins.

Despite her daughter’s difficulty coping with her mom’s condition, Applegate says there’s a “beautiful” side to their evolving relationship.

“When we’re out, she knows I’m having such a hard time because I have such anxiety about being out,” Applegate said on the Aug. 26 episode of “MeSsy.”

“And she’s always got my arm. She’s always trying to help me through and help me with my cane,” she continued.

But when they’re at home, Christina Applegate’s daughter still expects her mom to take care of her like she did before the diagnosis.

“She’s like, ‘Can you please go down and make my food because you’re the only one who can make it,” Applegate jokes — even though it would require her to walk downstairs, which is difficult for her.

“But I do it. I do it because I know that she’s checking in to make sure, ‘Can she still take care of me?’” Applegate said.