Christina Applegate made a bold statement about multiple sclerosis when she arrived at the 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards over the weekend.
Appearing on the red carpet Sunday alongside her 12-year-old daughter Sadie, the actor clutched an eye-catching walking cane that read "FU MS," along with her and her daughter's names and decorative hearts.
Applegate's appearance at the SAG Awards was significant and sentimental as it would likely be her last awards show as an actor, Applegate told The Los Angeles Times.
"So it's kind of a big deal," she said. "Right now, I couldn't imagine getting up at 5 a.m. and spending 12 to 14 hours on a set. I don't have that in me at this moment."
Applegate was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for playing Jen Harding in the Netflix comedy series "Dead To Me." She was diagnosed while filming the third and final season of the show but gave it everything she had, as The New York Times noted in an article last year.
At times Applegate had to use a wheelchair on set and struggled to walk down the stairs of her trailer. Some days, she couldn't work at all. But as the Times reported, there were also good moments.
Applegate got to experience the love and support of the crew. That's not to say she did not have insecurities over how fans would see her.
"This is the first time anyone's going to see me the way I am," she told The New York Times of her appearance in "Dead To Me" at the time. "I put on 40 pounds; I can't walk without a cane. I want people to know that I am very aware of all of that."
Netflix offered to stop the show after her diagnosis, but Applegate was determined to finish.
She told Netflix: "We have to finish this story. It's too important to our hearts; too important to our souls. And we have to give this gift, not only to ourselves — there are people that love these characters, and we've got to let them have their closure, too."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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