Christina Applegate opens up about her initial encounter with an eating disorder.

The actress reveals that her issues with body image worsened after she secured her role in “Married… With Children,” causing concern among everyone on set.

For the first time, Christina Applegate is openly discussing her initial encounter with an eating disorder.

In a recent podcast of her “MeSsy” podcast, Applegate shared with fellow actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler that her body image issues started during her childhood. These issues escalated after she was cast as Kelly Bundy in the Fox sitcom “Married… With Children,” which debuted in 1987. 

She confessed, “I didn’t eat because I wanted my bones to protrude.” This behavior alarmed everyone on set as they noticed, “Christina never eats.” And indeed, she didn’t.

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She further revealed, “Whenever I ate something, I would punish myself. I wasn’t bulimic or anything similar, I just starved myself for many, many years. It was agonizing.”

After “Married… With Children” ended in 1997 following 11 seasons, Applegate’s struggle with her eating disorder persisted. While preparing for the second and final season of NBC’s “Jesse,” which aired in 2000, she had become so slender that some of her size zero costumes needed alterations.


Christina Applegate, on right, with her “Married… With Children” co-stars Katey Sagal and David Faustino in 1987.

Applegate’s pivotal moment occurred somewhere in her 30s.

She recalled, “I was in the restroom, and all I could see were bones. It terrified me.” The journey to recovery was equally challenging: “I’d get a smoothie, but I could only consume a third of it. I’d have to discard it. I’d put sugar on my salty food and salt on my sweet food. I would ruin my food so I wouldn’t eat it – it was so systematic.”

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Over time, Applegate learned to embrace her body. However, she admitted that the “monster in my mind” has been “resurfacing quite loudly” after her multiple sclerosis diagnosis, which led to a weight gain of about 45 pounds.

She emphasized, “I need to be conscious of it so I don’t revert to harmful habits.”

Applegate at the 2024 Emmy Awards in January. MONICA SCHIPPER VIA GETTY IMAGES

Applegate first confirmed her multiple sclerosis, or MS, diagnosis in 2021, although she now believes she was exhibiting signs of the disease much earlier. Symptoms of the chronic autoimmune condition include tremors, fatigue, vision loss, slurred speech and weakness in limbs.

The “Dead to Me” actor and Sigler, who also has MS, launched “MeSsy” in March. The podcast explores “the curveballs that life can throw,” including health-related issues.

Last year, Applegate spoke out against an online commenter who claimed that the changes to her appearance were the work of a “bad plastic surgeon,” not MS.

“Of course I told her that it wasn’t nice. This was her reply,” Applegate wrote on X, formerly Twitter, at the time, alongside a screenshot of the woman’s remarks. “What is wrong with people? By the way, I laughed.”

Listen to the May 14 episode of “MeSsy” below.