Christina Applegate says Megyn Kelly Christina Applegate is not about a new role or a publicity beat, but a diagnosis reversal: doctors told her recent test results ruled out multiple sclerosis. She shared the news Tuesday on MeSsy with Jamie Lynn Sigler, after years of speaking publicly as one of the most visible MS advocates.
“Congratulations, you don't have MS,” she said her doctor told her after recent testing that used new technology. Applegate added, “This may come as good news … but I'm back at square one,” a line that captures the harder part of the story: the label that explained her symptoms has now been taken away without a replacement.
MeSsy and the diagnosis reversal
Since 2021, Applegate has been one of the best-known public faces of MS, which made Tuesday’s disclosure more than a personal update. She and Sigler have described themselves as “the poster children for MS,” and the podcast became the place where Applegate said the new test results changed everything.
The setting matters because she was not speaking in hindsight. Jamie Lynn Sigler had hosted the podcast solo for seven months while Applegate dealt with worsening health, and the conversation turned into the first public explanation of how a long-held diagnosis could be overturned after years of treatment and symptom management.
Marwa Kaisey on MS misdiagnosis
Marwa Kaisey, an associate professor with the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center department of neurology, used the episode to describe the “push and pull of the diagnostic process.” She said, “We're so eager to get people diagnosed because we know that the earlier we start them on treatment, the better they're going to do decades from then,” then added, “But at the same time we have to be really careful to give them the accurate diagnosis.”
That balance is not abstract. Kaisey said some people have gone for years with an MS misdiagnosis, and many receive medication aimed at treating it. A study titled Incidence of multiple sclerosis misdiagnosis in referrals to two academic centers found that nearly 1 in 5 patients with an MS diagnosis did not fully meet the criteria for the disease and had a much more likely alternate diagnosis.
Back at square one
Applegate’s previous diagnosis had offered an explanation for tingling and numbness in her extremities, lack of coordination, balance issues and difficulty walking. Earlier this year, she told People she had been spending most of her time in bed because she had been so ill, and her health deteriorated to the point that she had to leave Dead to Me, which concluded with a third season in November 2022.
The problem now is practical as much as personal. If MS is off the table, the next step is identifying what condition is causing the symptoms that led her there in the first place, because she has not been given a replacement diagnosis. For Applegate, the answer is still out of frame — and for anyone following her health story, that is the only missing piece that really matters.
