(UPI) — Christina Applegate says she was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The 49-year-old actress went public with her diagnosis Monday on Twitter.
“Hi friends. A few months ago I was diagnosed with MS,” Applegate wrote. “It’s been a strange journey. But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition.”
“It’s been a tough road,” she said. “But as we all know, the road keeps going. Unless some [expletive] blocks it.”
“As one of my friends that has MS said ‘we wake up and take the indicated action.’ And that’s what I do,” Applegate added. “So now I ask for privacy. As I go through this thing. Thank you xo.”
MS is “an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and the body,” according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
The cause of MS is unknown, although scientists believe that a combination of environmental and genetic factors contribute. Most people are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with women being two to three times more likely to be diagnosed.
Applegate was previously diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy in 2008. She had surgery to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes in 2017 to prevent further bouts with cancer.
Applegate came to fame as Kelly Bundy on Married… with Children. She has since starred as Veronica Corningstone in the Anchorman movies and presently plays Jen Harding on Dead to Me.