Christina Applegate is clarifying her 'I don't enjoy living' comments, which she made earlier this month on the 'MeSsy' podcast.
Christina Applegate is clarifying comments she made earlier this month on her and Jamie-Lynn Sigler's MeSsy podcast, on which the former Married... with Children star expressed she doesn't enjoy living.
The 52-year-old actress prefaced her explanation by underscoring the soothing antidote that it's OK to not be OK. Applegate said that after sharing she's "in a depression right now" on the June 4 episode and that being "trapped in this darkness" resulted in her not enjoying living and not enjoying things anymore, people from all walks of life reached out to her to comfort her.
What many failed to understand, Applegate said, is that when she expressed those sentiments it's something she was feeling at the time, adding that she's not a proponent of holding things in when you're not OK, which is the whole point of her and Sigler's podcast -- a platform where they can express their moments and heal with a community that shares their same struggles.
"I'm going to address something that recently happened ... I was talking about some dark stuff that I was thinking and feeling ... I feel like when we hold things in we give them power. I also think that there's so much shame a lot of people feel when they're going through mental health issues ... and when people holds those in, because they're so afraid to say how they truly feel, we give it immense power," Applegate said. "Not only holding things in gives it power but it also can cause disease in your body -- cancer, all sorts of things. Loneliness. All of that, by holding it in because society has told us we're supposed to be just f**king fine. And I am not into that. I am not a proponent of that kind of thing. I think it is incredibly healing and important to be able to express the thoughts, whether that makes someone uncomfortable or not."
Applegate, who announced in August 2021 she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), said headlines about about her feelings only proved why it's so difficult for anyone to truly express how they feel in the moment.
"By making such a big deal about it you're making other people think, 'Oh, s**t, I can't talk about this.' And that is not OK with me. It's important to be able to say these things. And, no, I'm not sitting here on suicide watch, OK? I am not. Nor have I ever been."
She added, "I dare anyone to be diagnosed with MS or any kind of chronic illness that has taken who you were prior to that moment and go, 'This is great.' You know? No, you have moments of feeling, 'This is tiring and I don't want to do this.' But you do it, and by having friends like you and my beautiful friends that I have saying this s**t out loud it releases the pressure in the balloon."
Sigler, who is also battling MS, applauded Applegate for sharing her "fleeting" thoughts and highlighting that it's OK to not be OK, and that it's OK to share that you're not OK. Sigler shared her own example, saying she's had moments where she's prayed she doesn't wake up. For Applegate, she understands exactly what Sigler's saying.
"What I hear from that is, 'I pray to not wake up like this,' you know?" Applegate says. "Of course you want to be there. You know, we have children. We have family. We have loved ones. It's OK for us to say, 'I don't want to wake up like this.' This does not serve me. And I want to wake up like how I used to."
RELATED CONTENT:
