Is Christina Applegate Leaving Hollywood For Good? Here's What the Actress Says About Retiring

In the early 2000s, Christina Applegate was seemingly invincible, routinely securing Golden Globe and Emmy Awards and clearly staking her claim to become the most prominent actress of her generation.

She continued to go from strength to strength throughout the 2010s, then, unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse.

In August 2021, Christina announced that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a few months before. At the time, she was filming for Netflix’s series Dead to Me, in which she starred alongside Linda Cardellini of Freaks and Geeks fame. The disease progressed very rapidly, undermining her ability to perform on set. She also put on a lot of weight: it was as if she aged by at least 10 years between the second and third seasons of the show. Adjustments had to be made to her filming schedule to allow her to finish work on the series.

Thus, an actress in her prime just a few short years ago, Christina is now considering permanent retirement from on-camera acting. According to Christina herself, her condition has progressed to such a degree that performing on set is no longer a viable option for her.

Although Christina is no longer taking on any movie or TV roles, she is open to voiceover work, as evidenced by the news of her participation in the animated spinoff of Married… With Children, in which she’ll be appearing alongside all the other main cast members of the iconic late 1980s early 1990s sitcom. It’s voiceover, but it’s still acting, and it still pays.

‘I can’t even imagine going to set right now. This is a progressive disease. I don’t know if I’m going to get worse. I can do voiceover stuff because I have to support my family and keep my brain working,’ Applegate said.

But then again, given her net worth of $25 million and a variety of luxury real estate properties, Christina can afford to quit all forms of acting if she really can’t hack it anymore. The money she has is more than enough to let her and her loved ones kick back and enjoy life, well, as much as it’s possible to enjoy life with MS. However, as the saying goes, ‘once an actor, always an actor’, so Christina just might keep on keeping on despite her debilitating condition because, for her, acting is life.

There is a lot of uncertainty about multiple sclerosis, so it’s unclear if she’s going to get worse and how much worse she might get, therefore her fans had better cherish her every new movie and TV series role as it just might be her last.

Source: Vanity Fair.