Christina Applegate will be honored with the 2023 Variety TV Fest Legacy award at the TV FYC Fest on June 7 in Los Angeles by Variety! Jean Smart will present the award to Christina, which recognizes her storytelling achievements as an actor and producer.

Source: Variety

Christina Applegate isn’t mincing words: She “was quitting” acting prior to landing her role on Netflix’s Dead to Me.

“Let’s be honest. I was like, ‘I’m done.’ I didn’t want to do it anymore,” the Emmy nominee tells EW on the latest episode of The Awardist podcast, crediting Dead to Me creator Liz Feldman for seeing her for more than what she was being offered.

On the final season of the “traumedy,” as Applegate says costar Linda Cardellini described the show’s genre, Applegate’s Jen and Cardellini’s Judy deal with the escalating police investigation into Steve’s (James Marsden) death. If that wasn’t enough, Judy is battling cancer, which she eventually finds out is terminal, and Jen is shocked to learn she is pregnant by Ben, Steve’s twin brother (naturally, James Marsden). Through it all, Jen and Judy’s friendship never wavers — they are the epitome of “ride or die.” In fact, they ride together to Mexico, where the two spend a few days together before Jen wakes one morning to discover that Judy has — seemingly — left to spare Jen the grief of watching her friend die.

While the series has wrapped and viewers (mostly) know what happened to the two characters, Applegate isn’t as certain about what fate awaits her. Five years ago she was ready to quit the industry because of a lack of good roles coming her way; now, she is more worried about her professional future because of MS, which she learned about while filming season 3 of the show. While the production made accommodations, their kindness, she says, set the bar “pretty high” and she’s hesitant to think any others “would have that kind of understanding.”

Below, read portions of our interview, where Applegate reveals whether she has any unfinished business with Jen, how the show became an escape for her, whether she still finds comedy difficult after years of starring in comedic shows and movies, her inspirations, and more.

There’s a moment in the final episode of Dead to Me, Netflix’s dark comedy about best friends, murder, and a luxurious backyard pool, where a terminally ill Judy (Linda Cardellini) lies in bed alongside her partner in crime, Jen (Christina Applegate), and says, “I’ve had the best time.” To which Jen replies, “I know. Me too.” You’d have to be acutely dehydrated to not well up.

For Applegate, the tears flowed on that final day on set, and again when she revisited the memory last week during this interview. “It was knowing the journey the two of us had been on, not just as those characters, but as two dear friends and acting partners,” she said.

It’s hard not to look at that scene as another goodbye, with Applegate now saying she may leave behind acting on camera because of the challenges of living with multiple sclerosis. Nearly two years after her diagnosis (she found out she had MS while filming Dead to Me’s final season) and less than a week after a hospital stay, she looked back at the show’s final season, paying tribute not just to Cardellini but also to James Marsden, who played twins on the show, and the show’s creator, Liz Feldman. Excerpts from a conversation with an icon who’s utterly honest and zero-fucks-to-give-funny.

Vanity Fair: The final season of Dead to Me came out late last year but it’s back in the conversation because of the first Emmy-voting window. Does the show feel like a lifetime ago, or do you still think about Jen?

Christina Applegate: It feels like a hundred years ago at this point, just because it kind of was, and it was such a trying and taxing time for me to even film. So I think I just had to get away from it all, you know? I miss my friends. I miss Linda. I miss Liz. I miss James. I miss the experience of it, but at the same time, because it was such an incredible struggle this last year, I’m relieved that I no longer have to push so hard to get through my day.

How are you feeling today?

With the disease of MS, it’s never a good day. You just have little shitty days. People are like, “Well, why don’t you take more showers?” Well, because getting in the shower is frightening. You can fall, you can slip, your legs can buckle. Especially because I have a glass shower. It’s frightening to me to get in there. There are just certain things that people take for granted in their lives that I took for granted. Going down the stairs, carrying things—you can’t do that anymore. It fucking sucks. I can still drive my car short distances. I can bring up food to my kid. Up, never down.

Because MS affects your balance?

Yeah, and gravity can just pull you down and take everything down with you. So we have this little thing at the top of the stairs that we call “purgatory.” So if anyone’s done with anything upstairs, we put it in purgatory so one of my able friends can bring it downstairs.

You have a group of able friends who come by to help out?

No. I know that sounds like, “Yay!” But I actually don’t want to be around a lot of people because I’m immunocompromised. I have my friend who lives here during the week and she helps me take care of [12-year-old daughter] Sadie. And then on the weekend I have a caretaker. I also don’t want a lot of stimulation of the nervous system because it can be a little bit too much for me. I like to keep it as quiet and as mellow as possible.

Sometimes even the most well-meaning visitors…

It’s exhausting. Imagine just being in a crowd of people and how loud that is. It’s like 5,000 times louder for anyone who has lesions on their brains.

There are moments this season where we watch Linda’s character, Judy, battle a disease while knowing that in real life you are actually the person battling one. In one scene, Jen is looking in the mirror and talking to her reflection about troubling shadows on a scan. It felt very meta to watch. How was it to play those moments?

It was bizarre. Especially since the season was written over a year before this all was shot. So it was almost like a portent. None of us knew I was going to be sick and gain 40 pounds from medication and have immobility. It was really difficult to not have my own personal feelings shadow what Jen was feeling. A lot of the words were really difficult to say and a lot of the scenes were really difficult to do. I had to keep remembering that this is Judy’s disease. It was really hard to not take that on, especially when the words were so cathartic and so right-to-the-bone.

Hey everyone! First, I want to apologize for my absence recently. I have been adjusting to starting a new job and finishing up my academic career, so my fan sites had to take a back seat for a few months. I’m now trying to play catch-up and get things back on track.

The photo gallery was updated with 340 HQ/MQ photos of Christina Applegate attending events in 2022 (Walk of Fame ceremony) and 2023 (Critics Choice Awards and SAG Awards).

Gallery Links:
Christina Applegate Online > Appearances > 2020s > From 2022 > Christina Applegate Honored With Star On The Hollywood Walk Of Fame
Christina Applegate Online > Appearances > 2020s > From 2023 > 28th Annual Critics Choice Awards – Backstage
Christina Applegate Online > Appearances > 2020s > From 2023 > 28th Annual Critics Choice Awards – Inside
Christina Applegate Online > Appearances > 2020s > From 2023 > 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards
Christina Applegate Online > Appearances > 2020s > From 2023 > 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards – Inside

The photo gallery has been updated with 1,423 screen captures of Christina Applegate appearing in Father Murphy, Silver Spoons, All is Forgiven, and Pauly. We now have photos of Christina from all the guest roles she has done in her career!

Gallery Links:
Christina Applegate Online > Other Television Shows > Guest Appearances > Father Murphy (1981) > 1×04 – A Horse From Heaven
Christina Applegate Online > Other Television Shows > Guest Appearances > Silver Spoons (1986) > 4×22 – A Family Affair
Christina Applegate Online > Other Television Shows > Guest Appearances > All Is Forgiven (1986) > 1×05 – Mother’s Day
Christina Applegate Online > Other Television Shows > Guest Appearances > Pauly (1997) > 1×05 – Through The Ringers