Actress Christina Applegate has been courageously fighting MS for some time. In her recently-released book, You With the Sad Eyes: A Memoir, she details her struggle with weight loss. It has been an unsettling corollary effect of her condition and treatment. The issue disturbed Applegate, 54, as she candidly writes in the book, which drops on Tuesday, March 3. "Sometimes the weight bothered me more than the disease. I didn't look in the mirror for a year." She also explained what made her unintentionally lose the pounds.
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"Then I was put on a clear?'liquid diet because of my stomach issues, and all of a sudden, everything just dropped off of me. Within seven months, all of it was gone, and I was down by 50 pounds or more. These days, my legs are tinier than they've ever been."
Applegate has dealt with some serious health crises in the past. Per Page Six, she had breast cancer nearly twenty years ago, leading to a double mastectomy. Nine years ago, the star had her fallopian tubes and ovaries removed to guard against ovarian cancer.
Stomach Problems Cropped up for Applegate
The Married...With Children star writes that she can't munch on foods that she craves because they will give her stomach problems. Willpower keeps Applegate away from those foods. "The illness has given me serious stomach issues. As I write this, there are tamales downstairs that are the best tamales you could ever have - I want to eat five of them right now, I'm so hungry - but I know if I do, I'll probably end up in the ER again, as I have so many times recently."
Her Legs Changed Drastically
Navigating her new relationship with food is not the only issue Applegate has tackled related to her illness. Her legs look much different these days as well. "Scary-looking" is how she describes them. "I have no muscles - just sticks. It's dangerous to be walking around with zero muscles on my body: it means my bones aren't protected if I fall, and it scares me."
To help herself get through the fear, Applegate just reframes her attitude about her suddenly-slender legs. "But there's still that little voice in my head saying, 'You're really skinny. You have the legs you always wanted. Good for you. This is the sickness. But she's not going to win."
