Christina Applegate Reveals Heartbreaking Disorder Early In Career
Christina Applegate has long been open to talking about her multiple sclerosis diagnosis since she came forward with it in 2021, and now, she’s sharing that she was afflicted with a different disorder early in her career. The Married… with Children star said that during her time on the hit sitcom, in which she played Kelly Bundy, she struggled with an eating disorder.
The actress admits to having an obsession with staying thin to the point of wanting her “bones to be sticking out” and told more of her story in hopes of helping others who may be struggling with a similar problem.
Christina Applegate Candidly Talked About Her Eating Disorder
While she says she was “never bulimic or anything like that,” Christina Applegate says that she had an incredibly unhealthy relationship with food, even going as far as to “punish” herself after eating. By the time the show had been on the air for a while, the star says that the cast and crew started to notice that she didn’t really eat during their work days and weren’t shy about being vocal about it.
Despite the knowledge that she was being watched by her co-workers, Applegate says she just couldn’t stop her addiction to being thin.
Unhealthy Desire To Remain Thin
Christina Applegate’s character on Married… with Children was what one would consider an airhead and – in some ways – was modeled after the public’s view of a blonde woman at the time. She would often give her parents, Al (Ed O’Neill) and Peggy (Katey Sagal), headaches due to her obsession with boys and was a constant thorn in the side of her brother, Bud (Dave Faustino).
There’s no doubt that keeping up the appearance of Kelly Bundy was something that weighed heavily on Applegate as she struggled with her desire to stay thin.
Persisted After Earning Her Own Sitcom
But, even when Married… with Children celebrated its grand finale in 1997 after an impressive 11-season run, Christina Applegate reveals that her issues with eating didn’t come to a halt. Shortly after she hung up the character of Kelly Bundy, she would join the cast of NBC’s Jesse, which ran for two seasons on the network.
It was during this time that the actress says she ran into problems with costuming as, during rehearsals for the final season, the costume master would need to take in her size zero outfits because she was simply too skinny.
An Uphill Battle
By the time she entered her 30s, Christina Applegate had begun to grow more and more aware of the stress and strain she was putting on her body through her damaged relationship with food. She says her turnaround moment came one day when she was “sitting on the toilet” and she looked at herself and “saw only bones.”
She knew that she needed to get help, but at this point, after having carried on the eating disorder for well over a decade, she had no idea where to start, and it proved to be more of an uphill battle than she expected.
Christina Applegate Is A Warrior
Starting with something that seemed easy, Christina Applegate said that she kept it simple with a smoothie but that she could never finish the full cup. Proving that an eating disorder is more of a mental struggle than anything, Applegate admits to constantly doing things to make her plates of food inedible without fully realizing it.
Now, as she fights her battle against MS, Christina Applegate knows that she needs to be more conscious and careful about the language that she uses with herself and how she approaches her healing journey.
Source: MeSsy Podcast
