Christina Applegate reveals she had anorexia during ‘Married with Children’ days: Wanted my bones ‘sticking out’
Christina Applegate admits she suffered from anorexia while starring on “Married… with Children” as a teenage actress.
“I just deprived myself of food for years and years and years,” she revealed on Tuesday’s episode of her and Jamie-Lynn Sigler’s “MeSsy” podcast. “It was f–king torture.”
The “Dead to Me” alum, now 52, said she was just 15 years old when she started her journey as Kelly Bundy on the hit TV series that ran from 1987 to 1997.
At the time, her mother, Nancy Priddy, put her on Weight Watchers to help manage her diet.
“She was always competitive,” Applegate said of Priddy. “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.”
Applegate said she would eat “five almonds in a day.” And if she ate even one more, she “would cry and I wouldn’t want to leave the house.”
“And that stuck with me for years and years and years,” she added.
Applegate, who often wore crop tops and short skirts during her role as Bundy, said she “wanted my bones to be sticking out, so I didn’t eat.”
The “Bad Moms” star said her weight alarmed the cast and crew of the hit TV series.
“It was very scary to everyone on set because they were like, ‘Christina never eats.’ They talked to me about it,” she shared.
Applegate said she thought she was “enormous” when her size 0 clothing had to be altered to fit.
The Emmy winner’s candid revelation comes as she has been dealing with other health issues in recent years.
In early 2021, she revealed she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Back in January, Applegate cried as she received a standing ovation during her surprise appearance at the 2024 Emmys.
The mom of one walked on stage with a cane that read “FU MS” for her ongoing illness, which is a disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord, according to Mayo Clinic.