Christina Applegate Says Doctors Now Believe Her MS Diagnosis Was Wrong
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Actress Christina Applegate said on Tuesday that she does not have multiple sclerosis, five years after announcing she had been diagnosed with the disease. She shared the news, tearfully, in a two-part return episode of her podcast "MeSsy," according to Variety and Page Six.
The finding has not eased her health problems. Applegate, 54, said her symptoms persist and in some ways have worsened, and that she is "back at square one" in trying to learn what is wrong.
What Applegate said on the podcast
Applegate said her doctor came into her room and told her she did not have MS. She said she was not happy to hear it, while others around her were relieved. Variety reported that she credited new technology with leading to the discovery.
She argued that a misdiagnosis does not make a patient better. She said she still has what she described as every symptom of MS and that many conditions can mimic the disease. Her doctors will now look into what has been happening since 2021 and why the diagnosis was made, she said, according to Page Six and UNILAD.
She also described a sense of loss. Having become a prominent advocate for people with MS, she said she feels she let others down. She said the diagnosis had at least given her an explanation for her difficult days, and that without it she feels confused and unsettled.
Applegate said she has been through a deep depression and lost her job. She said she still uses a wheelchair at the doctor's office because she cannot walk from the car to the exam room. Learning she did not have MS, she said, changed nothing physically. Reports differ slightly on the length of her illness: she referred to both five and six years.
How we got here: a timeline
- 2021: Applegate announced she had been diagnosed with MS, according to Variety.
- The following year: She retired from acting after the finale of her series "Dead to Me," Variety reported. She later started "MeSsy" with actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler to share her experience and raise awareness.
- August 2025: Applegate told podcast listeners that a kidney infection had left her in the hospital in severe pain, Page Six reported.
- February: In an interview with People, she said she was generally confined to bed but still tried to take her 15-year-old daughter to school.
- March: A hospital stay began, and she paused the podcast. Her representative told Page Six she had a long history of complicated medical conditions, and the reason for the admission was not disclosed.
- April: Without giving details, Applegate thanked fans for their support and said she was getting stronger every day.
- Last month: She was discharged from the hospital, according to Page Six.
- Oct. 20: She returned to the podcast after seven months away and disclosed the misdiagnosis.
Why it matters: how MS gets misdiagnosed
Page Six reported that the podcast episodes included Dr. Marwa Kaisey, an associate professor in the neurology department at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, who was asked to explain how such an error can happen.
Kaisey said misdiagnoses are "fairly common" because no single test confirms MS. Doctors work from a list of criteria rather than a yes-or-no result like a pregnancy test, she said. She added that almost one in five people who had been told they had MS, some for decades, turned out not to have it, and that a majority of them were taking medication for the disease.
Applegate herself said a high number of people are misdiagnosed with MS. UNILAD described MS as a long-term neurological condition affecting the brain and spinal cord, with symptoms that vary and commonly include fatigue, blurred vision, numbness or tingling, muscle weakness, walking difficulty, balance problems and muscle spasms.
For patients, the episode shows how a diagnosis based on criteria can later be revised, and how people can be left without a clear explanation afterward. Applegate said her illness is now a mystery.
What happens next
Applegate said her doctors plan to investigate what has been going on with her health since 2021. No timeline for that work, and no new diagnosis, has been disclosed. She told listeners she is still in a "state of shock" and was still processing the news.
