Christina Applegate says making the third and final season of Dead to Me after her multiple sclerosis diagnosis is the hardest thing she’s ever done.
The 50-year-old actress also known for Married With Children and Anchorman was diagnosed with the disease of the central nervous system, which interrupts the flow of information within the brain as well as between the brain and body, while in production on the final season of the Netflix show in the summer of 2021.
The show took a five month pause so she could start treatment. She told the New York Times in a new interview that coming back and pushing through to the end took a lot.
“I had an obligation” to finish telling the story, which has earned her two Emmy nominations, Applegate said. “The powers that be were like, ‘Let’s just stop. We don’t need to finish it. Let’s put a few episodes together [with previously recorded footage]. I said, ‘No. We’re going to do it, but we’re going to do it on my terms.'”
Christina Applegate had to bend to establish those terms as a seasoned actress since she was in kindergarten. Because the truth was that she could no longer do what she had always done.
When they paused production, “There was the sense of, ‘Well, let’s get her some medicine so she can get better,'” she said. “There is no better. But it was good for me. I needed to process my loss of my life, my loss of that part of me. So I needed that time. Although it’s not like I came on the other side of it, like, ‘Woohoo, I’m totally fine.'”
When she returned to the set of the dark comedy, her mobility had declined. She needed a wheelchair to get to set. She had trouble navigating the steps to her trailer. Her body gave out while filming, especially in the heat. A sound technician had to hold up her legs, out of camera range, to get shots.
She could no longer film establishing shots showing her walking into a room because she couldn’t do it unassisted. She would have to open doors in scenes just to lean against them to keep her up.
With the final season dropping on Netflix on Nov. 17, Applegate said, “This is the first time anyone’s going to see me the way I am. 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.”
Applegate, a mom of one, isn’t sure she’ll ever watch the final season, saying it’s too painful. But she wanted to complete it for her co-star Linda Cardellini, who has become a close friend and took on the role of advocate on the set, as well as show creator Liz Feldman.