Christina Applegate shares candid thoughts on death and her health struggles

Christina Applegate has shared candid reflections on mortality and her life since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2021.

Speaking on NPR’s Wild Card with Rachel Martin, the 54-year-old actress revealed that she frequently thinks about death and has even purchased a final resting place for herself. 

“It’s looming. I mean, it looms for all of us,” Applegate said, explaining that her autoimmune disease makes the reality of mortality feel immediate.

She added that she had bought burial plots for herself and two others in a “really pretty” location, noting that she plans to visit with a friend for picnics there. “I finally was like, ‘Is this available?’ They’re like, ‘Yes it is.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, buying it now. Just buy it now. That way nobody has to deal with it,’” she explained.

Applegate also reflected on the pressures she faced as a young actress, particularly during her time playing Kelly Bundy on Married… with Children. 

She admitted that striving to maintain a very thin physique for the role contributed to her struggles with body dysmorphia and anorexia.

“I dug myself into a hole with that character, though, because I had to be skinny,” she wrote in her memoir You With the Sad Eyes. 

She described extreme measures to control her weight, sometimes eating only a fraction of a single bagel or nothing at all, which left her as “bone, bone, bone.”

Despite these challenges, Applegate’s openness about her health, mortality, and past struggles offers a candid insight into how she has navigated life with MS while confronting the pressures of Hollywood and her own personal well-being.