The actress reflects on teen fame, abusive relationships, motherhood and her life with MS in 'You With the Sad Eyes', which comes out March 3,
John Shearer
NEED TO KNOW
- Christina Applegate is opening up about her life like never before in a new memoir, ‘You With the Sad Eyes’
- The actress reflects on teen fame, abusive relationships, motherhood and her own unique experiences with both breast cancer and MS
- Amid her MS diagnosis, Applegate is raising daughter Sadie, 15, whom she shares with her husband, musician Martyn LeNoble
Christina Applegate's bedroom has become somewhat of a sanctuary.
Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021, Applegate, 54, now spends a good portion of each day on or in her bed because it’s too painful to move around. Her routine with daughter Sadie, 15, whom she shares with her husband, musician Martyn LeNoble, 56, is less forgiving because of the need for rides to school and activities.
“I want to take her; it’s my favorite thing to do. It’s the only time we have together by ourselves,” Applegate says. “I tell myself, ‘Just get her there safely and get home so you can get back into bed.’ And that’s what I do.”
Ironically, being confined to her bedroom has allowed the actress, dancer and producer, a newfound freedom to be unfiltered when it comes to her own journey.
John Shearer
“My life isn’t wrapped up with a bow,” says Applegate, who hosts the podcast MeSsy along with friend and fellow actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler (who also has MS). “People’s lives, sorry for lack of a better term, f—ing suck sometimes. So I’m being as honest and raw as I possibly can.”
That starts with her new memoir You With the Sad Eyes, which spans from her tumultuous upbringing in L.A.’s infamous Laurel Canyon to teen fame, abusive relationships, motherhood and her own unique experiences with both breast cancer and MS, an autoimmune disorder that affects the central nervous system.
Courtesy Christina Applegate
“We all have come from somewhere, some places more painful than others, and it’s what you do with it, I guess,” says the actress. “This is not an inspirational book, by any means. But it can inspire.”
For more of Applegate's exclusive interview, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday.
The actress reveals her childhood in L.A.'s infamous Laurel Canyon was filled with instability and marred by her experiences with molestation and abuse, including watching her single mom, actress Nancy Priddy, struggle with heroin addiction and a physically abusive boyfriend, who turned on Applegate as well.
“I think I had kind of the worst situation from 3 to 7, but there was stuff like that going on in all our homes. Single moms, men coming in and out, drugs. It’s always fun to see your mom crying on the floor and you not being taken care of,” she says ruefully.
Even as her acting career flourished (she cemented her status as the family breadwinner with her iconic role of Kelly Bundy in the hit Fox sitcom Married… With Children), Applegate faced more rough times in her personal life, including staying in a long-term relationship with an abusive boyfriend that began in her late teens.
“My mom always said, ‘I never met a junkie I didn’t like.’ And that kind of was how I rolled,” she says. “I never was with anyone who had a real job. I was always with these broken birds that I wanted to fix. I just always thought I could do it. And you know what? You can’t. It’s like, if I can be a lesson to anyone.”
Courtesy Christina Applegate
While Applegate—who’s launching a new online platform, Next in MS, where others can share their own experiences living with the disease—insists it wasn’t exactly cathartic to write, her memoir “is about a little girl with sad eyes who ended up becoming Christina Applegate,” she says. “And she still has those sad eyes. But she’s a stronger, different, resilient human being. And that’s really kind of my story.”
You With the Sad Eyes hits bookshelves March 3.
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