Christina Applegate has shared her experience of battling an eating disorder during her time on the show ‘Married with Children’.
"I just deprived myself of food for years and years and years,"Applegate said on the latest episode of MeSsy, her podcast with Jamie-Lynn Sigler. "It was f-----g torture."
The actress mentioned that she has never talked about her eating disorder publicly and revealed that her difficulties with food and body image began in childhood, recalling a neighbor boy who called her fat.
At the age of 15, when she wa just starting her 10-year stint on ‘Married With Children’, she recalls her mother enrolling her in Weight Watchers.
"She was always competitive," remembered Applegate, who is now 52 years old.
"If I got down to 110 [pounds], she'd be like... 'How'd you do it?' And the reason was, I had an eating disorder. I would eat five almonds in a day. And if I had six, I would cry and I wouldn't want to leave the house. And that stuck with me for years and years and years."
Playing Kelly Bundy on ‘Married with Children’, Applegate frequently wore short skirts and revealing tops. "I wanted my bones to be sticking out, so I didn't eat," remembered Applegate, who said she was struggling with anorexia during that period.
Her condition worried the cast and crew of the show: "It was very scary to everyone on set because they were like, 'Christina never eats.' They talked to me about it."
Later, she explains, she was so tiny that her size 0 clothing had to be altered to fit her.
Applegate, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021, reveals that it wasn't until her 30s that she finally felt free from the grip of her eating disorder.
However, she explains that after experiencing side effects from MS and its medication, leading to a 45-pound weight gain, "the demon in my head is coming back really loud and it's scaring me," she said. "I need to be aware of it so I don't start falling into bad habits of hurting myself."
That "demon" haunted her as she stepped onto the Emmy stage in January, she recalls.
After receiving an enthusiastic standing ovation, Applegate humorously remarked to the audience about her appearance, saying, "Body not by Ozempic."
During the podcast, she explained that her quip was a defense mechanism."I made jokes at the Emmys because...it was like I could see what they were thinking... and I was so humiliated. The demon is saying these things to me."
Applegate, who remembered undergoing liposuction on her legs at around 26, says she wants to ensure that her daughter, Sadie, receives different messages as she grows up.
"I don't want my daughter to see me not eat," she explained. "I've been really clear about... trying not to put myself down... I have bad self-esteem issues and have my whole life. I don't want that for my kid."
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