Not only has Christina Applegate's debilitating illness mostly confined her to her bedroom, but it has impacted her ability to parent.
The 54-year-old actress - who is currently promoting the release of her upcoming memoir, "You With the Sad Eyes" - detailed how her multiple sclerosis has affected her ability to parent her 15-year-old daughter, Sadie, whom she shares with husband, Martyn LeNoble.
"I want to take her [to school and activities]; it's my favorite thing to do," Applegate told People magazine. "It's the only time we have together by ourselves. I tell myself, 'Just get her there safely and get home so you can get back into bed.' And that's what I do."
CHRISTINA APPLEGATE ADDRESSES FUTURE AS AN ACTRESS AMID MS DIAGNOSIS
Because of limitations, Applegate said she feels more free to be unapologetically herself.
"My life isn't wrapped up with a bow," she said. "People's lives, sorry for lack of a better term, f---ing suck sometimes. So I'm being as honest and raw as I possibly can."
During an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on Tuesday, Applegate explained why she allowed her teenage daughter to comb through her old journals.
"I let her go through that one because I was like, you're not unique in the sense of like - just understand that your mom understands it, right?" she said. "You know that like you're hurting, and I'm sorry, I'm going to say... s--- happens, and it's awful."
"I needed her to like see that her mom understood that it hurts," she added.
"Like, I get it, dude. Like, I was f---ed... I want you to feel me and I want you to understand that I feel you," Applegate shared. "And that's kind of what this book is about."
"I went through a lot of stuff in my life," she continued. "And in this book, there is some bad stuff that happened to me. And I really do want all of us to kind of come together and go, we have each other."
During an episode of her "MeSsy" podcast with co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler in August, the "Married… With Children" actress detailed the various ways her health issues have "broken" Sadie.
"In my situation, Sadie only knew me as healthy, and a runner, and a Pelotoner and a dancer, and she only knew that," she said. "So then, when this came about, 2021, she was, like, stoic about it."
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She continued, "And now, I see her look at me when I'm in bed and can't quite move, or I want to go say goodnight to her in her room, but I can't quite get down the hallway for whatever reason that my legs aren't working that day. Right now I can barely get to bathroom, it's the worst, but that's neither here nor there. It's broken her."
Applegate said that as more time goes by, the worse it gets.
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"She didn't know this. It was like losing the mom she had to this f---ing thing. And the more she's gotten older now, I think the more it's hurting her," she said. "Also, I was diagnosed in 2021, so we had just gone through COVID and no school and all this stuff, and now mommy can't do all the things that she used to be able to do, and I see it in her eyes. I see it."
She added, "But you know what's really beautiful? When we're out, she knows I'm having such a hard time because I have such anxiety about being out. And she's always got my arm."
"She's always trying to help me through and help me with my cane and all this stuff. At home, she's like, 'Can you please go down and make my food 'cause you're the only one who can make it.'"
