Actress Christina Applegate told listeners of her podcast, MeSsy, this week that her doctor says she doesn't have multiple sclerosis and was misdiagnosed. Applegate went public with her MS diagnosis in 2021. She co-hosts the show with actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who has MS. She says her symptoms haven't gone away. She still uses a wheelchair at the doctor's office. She says she's "back at square one" with no idea what's wrong. On Tuesday, conservative host Megyn Kelly criticized Applegate on her SiriusXM show. Former Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean, who has MS, hit back on Wednesday. The hosts of ABC's The View joined in Thursday. Kelly hasn't responded publicly.

1. Celebrities Make Their Illness Their Brand (Megyn Kelly)

Kelly says Applegate built a public identity around a disease she turned out not to have.

The actress spent years as the famous face of MS. On The Megyn Kelly Show, host Megyn Kelly said most people associate Applegate with the disease because she was one of the first to come out and say she had it. Kelly said Applegate made "every public statement about health for the past several years all about her MS." Now, Kelly noted, Applegate says she doesn't have it. "This has all been a wild goose chase," Kelly said.

Famous people do this all the time, Kelly says. She called it "the problem with celebrities, wanting to lean into their health problems." Kelly said Applegate is crying "because I guess she no longer gets to be the face of this disease." She said Applegate had made "a cottage industry of talking about her MS."

Other people with MS will roll their eyes, she predicts. Kelly said she's sure a lot of people with MS are reacting like this: "What? And she's crying because she doesn't have MS?"

2. But People With MS Call That Cruel (Janice Dean, The View)

They say Applegate is still sick, and her speaking up helped a lot of people.

She's still sick, and she told the truth anyway. Applegate says she hasn't gotten better and in some ways has gotten worse. She also said she feels like she "let everybody down." Former Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean has had MS for more than 20 years. She called Kelly's comments "disgusting" and said Applegate "is brave for telling the truth." Dean said she's grateful Applegate "became a voice for so many of us."

Patients talk about their diagnosis to help each other. Dean took Kelly's dig personally. "I am one of those loser people Megyn Kelly refers to as wanting to talk about my diagnosis to help others," she wrote on X. She also said Kelly was once one of her closest friends. Dean says Kelly ghosted her after Kelly endorsed Andrew Cuomo for New York mayor.

Nobody wants to be the face of MS. On Thursday's The View, co-host Whoopi Goldberg asked whether Kelly really thinks Applegate wanted MS "so she could have a good time." Goldberg told Kelly, "you're wrong." Co-host Sara Haines asked, "Who wants to be the face of MS?" and called it "kicking someone when they're down." Co-host Ana Navarro compared Kelly to a "fungus," and co-host Sunny Hostin called her an "ugly person."

3. And Doctors Say Wrong MS Diagnoses Are Common (Neurologists, National MS Society)

MS specialists say there's no single test for the disease, so wrong diagnoses happen a lot.

In some studies, nearly one in five MS diagnoses turned out wrong. Cedars-Sinai neurologist Dr. Marwa Kaisey joined Applegate's podcast and called misdiagnosis "fairly common." Her 2019 study of patients referred to Cedars-Sinai and UCLA found that 17% to 19% of people already diagnosed with MS didn't have it. Migraine was the most common real diagnosis. National MS Society research chief Bruce Bebo says "there's not a single diagnostic test that tells you, 'You have MS'."

The true rate is probably lower than one in five. TODAY reports that the one-in-five figure comes from specialty MS clinics. Those clinics see more complex cases, so the true rate is likely lower. A recent analysis that pooled several studies put it at about 15%. Mount Sinai neurologist Dr. Ilana Katz Sand says that in her experience, misdiagnosis usually happens when a doctor doesn't weigh a warning sign carefully enough.

Patients struggle when doctors take back an MS diagnosis. "I found that it's harder to be undiagnosed with MS," Kaisey said on the podcast. Writer Donney Rose has MS. In an MS NOW column, Rose wrote that Applegate's doctor "should have known that telling her that she doesn't have MS wouldn't be comforting." Rose worries about the patients with less money or fame who "may never know they're misdiagnosed."

Where This Lands

Kelly says Applegate built her public identity around a disease she doesn't have. Dean and The View hosts say Kelly mocked a sick woman for telling the truth about her own health. MS specialists say studies have found up to one in five diagnoses were wrong. Applegate still doesn't know what's causing her symptoms.

Sources