This 2026 has been a challenging year for Christina Applegate (54). The actress was hospitalized between late March and early August, and although she stated that she felt supported by the love she was receiving, some sources revealed that the actress went through a quite tough period during which she did not dare to make statements. In fact, during her hospital stay, the American never clarified what was happening to her.
"Health issues are a constant for me. But I am a strong woman and every day I feel stronger and better," she wrote on Instagram last April, and many media outlets inevitably linked this setback in her health to the multiple sclerosis diagnosis she revealed in August 2021.
"Hello, friends. A few months ago, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. It's been a strange journey. But I have received a lot of support from people I know who also suffer from this disease. It's been a tough road. But, as we all know, the journey continues," she stated on Twitter back then.
However, this Tuesday, five years later from that announcement, the artist has left her followers astonished by stating that her doctors were wrong and that she does not have multiple sclerosis. Although she does have many of the symptoms of the disease. Furthermore, her ailments persist.
"Recently, my neurologist informed me that I had been misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis. I have been living with these symptoms since 2021 and they have not improved, they have not changed, and everything remains the same," she commented on Messy, the podcast she hosts with her friend Jamie-Lynn Sigler, known for playing Meadow Soprano on The Sopranos.
"I was first diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021, after starting to feel numbness in my feet. I went to a neurologist and asked him 'do you think it could be multiple sclerosis?' and he replied 'the symptoms don't seem to fully match, but let's start running some tests'. And meanwhile, I was getting worse, worse, and worse," she mentioned.
"Finally, I decided to change doctors, but it wasn't because of him. It was just because I wanted to have a doctor closer to home, at Cedars-Sinai. And when she started reviewing all the tests that the first neurologist had done on me, she said 'good job', because he had conducted a very thorough investigation. He had gone above and beyond and even performed a lumbar puncture," she indicated.
According to Applegate, the lumbar puncture revealed three "bands" in her system. Indicators that can appear in patients with multiple sclerosis but also in people with other diseases. Additionally, they found various brain lesions, about which they have now discovered new details. "And it turns out I was misdiagnosed. There is something different in those lesions. Something that can now be detected thanks to a new test," she explained.
On the other hand, Applegate has confessed that when she learned about the news of her misdiagnosis, she didn't feel overflowing with joy. "My doctor came into my room and said 'congratulations, you don't have multiple sclerosis!'. And although everyone else was very happy, I wasn't happy," she tearfully mentioned.
"Being told you were misdiagnosed doesn't mean that suddenly you're better. I haven't improved. If anything, I've gotten worse. So I'm back to square one, not knowing what's happening to me. And that's what my doctors will have to investigate to find out what has been happening since 2021. I don't understand why this happened to me," she pointed out.
How does Christina feel at this moment? In her own words, sad, confused, and "in shock". "I have gone through a very deep depression because of this diagnosis. I lost everything. My job, everything. What do you tell someone who has been living with this for six years? I'm so sorry, but this paralyzed my life," she expressed with evident emotion.
"Now I know I don't have this disease... but I still have to use a wheelchair when I go to the doctor's office. I can't walk from the car to the office. I'm still in this situation. Nothing magical happened when my doctor told me 'you don't have multiple sclerosis'," she stated.
Likewise, Applegate has stated that she feels she has "disappointed everyone". "It's a very strange feeling because I had become a sort of public face of multiple sclerosis. And everything that happened to me had a reason. There was a damn reason for all my days to be crap. And now I don't have an explanation anymore. It's very unsettling and very confusing for me," she concluded.