Actress and ’90s icon Christina Applegate is known for many roles, but especially as Kelly Bundy, the controversial “dumb blonde” on the controversial and beloved sitcom, Married…with children. In the past few years, the 54-year-old has largely retreated from the spotlight and public life Diagnosis of multiple sclerosisa condition that makes her feel as if she has been “in a state of exhaustion for three sleepless days,” as she wrote in her recently released memoir.
Emotional and honest, sometimes dark and often funny, You are the one with the sad eyes It is a raw and revealing portrait of the actress. Applegate paints a vivid picture of her chaotic, trauma-filled childhood and her coming of age when she became a television star. She unpacks her complex entanglements with men, the emotional burden of enduring devastating illnesses, but also the joy, surprise, and discovery of living her life with remarkable courage.
For her book, Applegate mined her memories, as well as the journals in which she had written since she was thirteen. For years, she didn’t intend to return to it again, but the challenge of putting her story on the page changed that. “You’re in luck, the box is open,” she tells readers in the introduction.
In many ways, Applegate’s memoirs were born of the fact that so many people had A chronic, debilitating disease face. “I no longer care what I say, how I face it, or how anyone feels,” she writes. “I no longer have patience for bullshit, I no longer have patience for things that are meaningless or just “extra.” Plus, I have no room for falsity or hidden meanings.
SELF spoke with Applegate about the process of writing it all down and the truths she’s found as she navigates a chapter of life filled with a new kind of uncertainty — but also, thankfully, the love and community she’s always craved.
Self: Your memoir is incredibly powerful. Can you tell us why you decided to write this book, and why now?
Christina Applegate: I don’t have anything else to do. Seriously, I’m just sitting here. Maybe it’s time to turn off Bravo for a few years. They approached me, and one of them said, “Have you ever felt like writing a book?” So I thought to myself, “Okay, I have a lot to say, so let’s do it. Let’s go out there. Let’s write it. Let’s get it out. Let’s spit it out!”
