Red carpet ready! Christina Applegate stunned at the 2023 SAG Awards after hinting that she may retire from acting as she battles multiple sclerosis.
Applegate, 51, posed for photos at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Century City, California, on Sunday, February 26, with her 12-year-old daughter, Sadie, whom she shares with Martyn LeNoble. The mother-daughter duo both rocked all-black ensembles for the ceremony.
The California native is nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for her work on the third and final season of Dead to Me, which hit Netflix in November 2022. Applegate plays widow Jen Harding, whose husband was killed by a hit-and-run driver. She bonds with Judy Hale (Linda Cardellini) at a grief support group — but later learns not everything is as it seems.
Weeks before Sunday’s event, Applegate hinted that she might be taking a step back from the spotlight sooner than expected. “Right now, I couldn’t imagine getting up at 5 a.m. and spending 12 to 14 hours on a set,” the Samantha Who? alum told the Los Angeles Times in an interview published on February 7. “I don’t have that in me at this moment.”
She went on to refer to the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards as her “last awards show as an actor, probably,” adding that she thought it was “kind of a big deal.”
However, the Married … With Children alum emphasized that she didn’t plan on leaving the industry completely, teasing that she might take up “doing a s–t ton of voice-overs to make some cash.”
Applegate’s Hollywood career has spanned decades, but she faced a setback in August 2021 when she announced her multiple sclerosis diagnosis. “It’s been a strange journey,” she tweeted at the time. “But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition. It’s been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going. Unless some a—hole blocks it.”
The Emmy winner added: “As one of my friends that has MS said, ‘We wake up and take the indicated action’. And that’s what I do. So now I ask for privacy. As I go through this thing. Thank you xo.”
Her Sweetest Thing costar Selma Blair, who received her own MS diagnosis in 2018, was quick to support Applegate through her challenging time. “Loving you always. Always here. As are our kids. Beating us up with love,” she wrote via Twitter.
Since opening up about her health battle, the Bad Mom actress — who is a breast cancer survivor — has done her best to stay strong. In November 2022, she made her first public appearance since coming forward with her MS diagnosis to accept her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That same month, she discussed the process of filming Dead to Me‘s final season.
“This is the first time anyone’s going to see me the way I am,” she told The New York Times ahead of the season 3 premiere. “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.”
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Despite the obstacles she was presented with, Applegate was determined to wrap the production. “I had an obligation to [creator] Liz [Feldman] and to Linda, to our story. The powers that be were like, ‘Let’s just stop. We don’t need to finish it. Let’s put a few episodes together,’” she told the newspaper. “I said, ‘No. We’re going to do it, but we’re going to do it on my terms.’”
