Warning: This article contains discussion of eating disorders which some readers may find distressing.
Christina Applegate has spoken out about having an eating disorder for the first time.
Applegate first shot to fame on 1980s sitcom Married... with Children, where she played teenager Kelly Bundy.
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The actor was only 15 when she first appeared on the show - which went on to run for 11 successful seasons.
But Applegate was baring a heavy burden at the time, something which she hasn't discussed until now.
Speaking on her podcast MeSsy with co-host Lynn Sigler, the 52-year-old said: "I just deprived myself of food for years and years and years."
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Applegate described it as 'f***ing torture'.
According to the star, her mom put her on Weight Watchers in 1987, the same year Married... with Children debuted.
But her body images issues started before then after a boy in her neighborhood called her fat.
Applegate also described her mother as 'competitive'.
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"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," she went on.
At the height of her struggles, Applegate said she'd only eat five almonds a day and would refuse to leave the house if she had six.
Elsewhere, the costume department had to take in her size 0 costumes because they were too big.
The Anchorman star further revealed that those behind the scenes of Married... With Children were worried about her.
"They were like, ‘Christina never eats.’ They talked to me about it," she said on her podcast. "But to me, I was enormous."
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The discussion about eating disorders came up because Applegate admitted that the 'demon in my head is coming back really loud' amid her recent weight gain - and it was 'scaring her'.
The actor says she's gained 45 pounds following her Multiple Sclerosis (MS) diagnosis in 2021.
MS is a serious health condition which affects both the brain and spinal cord.
Symptoms of the condition include issues with vision, arm or leg movements, sensation or balance, muscle stiffness, numbness and problems with thinking, learning and planning.
"It's always a little bit there, when you lived with anorexia as long as I did in my early life," Applegate shared. "It always plagues me, body dysmorphia and all of those things."
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With her diagnosis in mind and MS being a progressive disease, the actor has said she's unsure if she'll ever act again.
Her last credit was in Netflix's Dead to Me alongside Linda Cardellini and James Marsden, which first aired in 2019.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone, contact National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD). You can reach them on their free hotline at 1(888)-375-7767, which is open Monday-Friday, 9am-9pm CST.
Featured Image Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Critics Choice Association / FoxTopics: Health, Celebrity, News
Niamh Shackleton