Christina Applegate is clearing the air about past comments she made on her podcast.
During the June 4 episode of her podcast MeSsy, the Dead to Me actress, 52, spoke candidly about her mental health struggles with podcast co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler and said she was “in a depression.”
“It’s kind of scaring me too a little bit because it feels really fatalistic, it feels really ‘end of,’” she said. “I don’t mean that, but I’m trapped in this darkness right now that I haven’t felt in probably 20-something years. I don’t enjoy living. I don’t enjoy it. I don’t enjoy things anymore.”
After making those comments, Applegate said she became “disturbed by” fans’ reactions and the “clickbait” that followed — so she was prompted to speak out about everything on the June 18 episode of her podcast.
“I’m good. Does that take a little bit of the pressure off of all of you? That’s I’m good. Let’s address it. We are going to address it,” she said. “It’s a moment. It’s a thought. It’s a feeling. I was talking about some dark stuff I was thinking and feeling.”
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The Married with Children alum has been open about her struggles with her multiple sclerosis diagnosis since she shared her diagnosis on X (formerly known as Twitter) in August 2021.
As Applegate explained on her podcast, she views the platform as a “safe place to get those things out, because I feel that when we hold things in, we give them power.”
“I also think that there’s so much shame that a lot of people feel when they’re going through mental health issues, and they call them issues,” Applegate said. “I hate that.”
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Applegate revealed that after her previous comments, she “started getting text messages from people” concerned about her wellbeing and wanted to clarify that “I have beautiful people around me and beautiful support systems” and pushed back on others “making such a big deal about it [because] you’re making other people think, oh, s— I can’t talk about this.”
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“I think it’s important to be able to say these things,” she continued. “I dare anyone to be diagnosed with MS or any kind of chronic illness that has taken who you were prior to that moment and go, this is great. You know? No.”
“You have moments of feeling like this is tiring and I don’t wanna do this. But you do it, and by having friends like you and my beautiful friends that I have, by saying this s— out loud, it releases the pressure in the balloon, man.”
If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
