The actress has been open about her multiple sclerosis journey since being diagnosed with the autoimmune disease in 2021.

Christina Applegate breaks silence amid reports of hospital stay

The actress has been open about her multiple sclerosis journey since being diagnosed with the autoimmune disease in 2021.

By Marina Watts

Marina Watts

Marina Watts is a news writer for with seven years experience covering entertainment, pop culture and celebrity news. Her previous work appears in PEOPLE, Bustle and Newsweek.

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April 20, 2026 12:39 p.m. ET

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Christina Applegate in Los Angeles in January 2023. Credit:

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty

- Christina Applegate is speaking out following a reported hospital stay.

- The actress was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis, in 2021, and has been open about her health journey since.

- In May 2025 during an appearance on *Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend*, Applegate called the disease " the worst thing I've ever had in my life" and "the worst thing I've ever gone through.”

Christina Applegate is speaking out amid reports of an extended hospital stay.

"Thank you for the outpouring of love and well wishes," the *Anchorman** *star wrote in an Instagram post on Monday. "Health issues are a constant for me, but I’m a strong chick and I’m getting stronger and better every day. I’m taking a moment to focus on my health, but I’ll be back with more to say soon enough."

Applegate, who made no mention of a hospital stay, accompanied the post with a photo of a mug sitting on top of her recently released memoir, *You With the Sad Eyes*.

This update comes after TMZ reported on April 16 that Applegate was hospitalized and had been receiving medical treatment since late March. Applegate was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease, in 2021 and has been open about her health journey since.

“I have no comment on whether she is in the hospital or what her medical treatments are,” Applegate’s rep told *** *in response to TMZ's report. “She’s had a long history of complicated medical conditions that she has been refreshingly open about, as evidenced in her memoir and on her podcast.”

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Applegate announced her diagnosis on social media in August 2021, calling it "a strange journey." "But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition. It's been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going. Unless some a--hole blocks it."

She previously underwent a double mastectomy in 2008 after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Christina Applegate already bought her burial plot: ‘It’s really pretty where it is’

Christina Applegate joins Instagram amid her struggle with MS: 'Raw, real, honest'

Applegate and *Sopranos** *actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler (who revealed in 2016 that she also had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis) cohost the podcast *MeSsy*, where they discuss many topics surrounding the health condition.

The *Dead to Me** *star also gives her Instagram followers regular updates about living with MS. "For people who don’t understand MS. When we get stressed or upset our symptoms get worse," she wrote in November 2025. "I had something happen to me on Friday and I have fallen like 5 times. Legs are busted. So if you know someone with a disease like this, maybe think…"

Christina Applegate in Los Angeles in April 2024.

Emma McIntyre/Getty

Months prior, Applegate got candid about the condition during an appearance on *Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend** *with Sigler.

"I don't really leave the house anymore," Applegate admitted in the May 2025 episode. "I mean, if people saw what my life was like on the daily, they wouldn't be able to do it because I can sometimes not do it. It's really, really hard."

She also addressed the stigma surrounding being diagnosed with MS. "That stigma is — I'm used to it now — but for a while it was so hard to swallow because, why the F would you think that I would do something to have this?" Applegate said. "Because this is the worst thing I've ever had in my life. It's the worst thing I've ever gone through.”

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