Christina Applegate on Dance, Drama, Dads … and Yes, Death

You may know the award-winning actress Christina Applegate from her 10-year stint as the ditsy daughter on Fox’s Married With Children or as the grieving widow on Netflix’s dark but amazing Dead to Me. Maybe you remember her as Ron Burgandy’s love interest in the Anchorman films, or the mean girl of Bad Moms, or any of the dozens of other roles she’s played in television, film, and on Broadway.

But did you know that dance is her first love? Or that her dad left her mom when Christina was only three years old? Or that Bravo’s Andy Cohen is “her dude”?

It wasn’t all about death

Applegate covered all of these topics and much, much more in a 40-minute conversation with NPR’s Rachel Martin last week — but you wouldn’t know any of that if you only read the headlines from this March 19 interview. Instead, you might think the whole episode of Martin’s Wild Card With Rachel Martin podcast was about Applegate’s imminent demise.

Case(s) in point:

Applegate’s interview was one stop on her promotional tour of her new book, “You With the Sad Eyes: A Memoir,” which was released earlier this month. Debuting at number one on the New York Times bestseller list, the book covers the remarkable actress’ life to date, including her abusive childhood, teenage anorexia, difficult relationships, and her battle with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). And naturally, like the NPR interview, she touches on her thoughts about mortality — as might anyone who is battling a crippling, devastating disease like MS.

The media’s focus on this one aspect of Applegate’s interview and book shouldn’t overshadow the rest of her moving story, but it does highlight the fact that talking about death is still, sadly, not “normal,” especially in Hollywood — when it most certainly should be. Despite the growing “death positive” movement and deathcare’s ongoing work to promote planning and healthy end-of-life conversations, declarations like those made by Applegate are still headline grabbers.

Thinking about death

During the NPR podcast, Martin asks Applegate to pick one of three “cards,” each of which prompt a different question. Toward the end of the interview, Martin asks Applegate, “How often do you think about death?” and Applegate responds, “Every day ‘cause it’s looming. I mean it looms for all of us.”

She goes on to talk about how she’s purchased burial plots for her family in a particular spot that she’s had her eye on for a while. Then she says she’s going to plant a tree at the spot because it’s “really sunny” and she doesn’t want her “visitors” to “be sweating.”

How awesome would it be for everyone to plan their own dispositions with that much purpose and practicality? To not only be happy that they picked the perfect place or process for them, but to also to consider their loved ones so thoughtfully? She even adds that she was so excited to find that the plots were available that she bought them on the spot. “That way, nobody has to deal with it.” Exactly!

Applegate closes that portion of the conversation with Martin by admitting that she’s still “very not comfortable” with death, but only because “I’m going to hurt my kid. […] So I get really scared about that. I think it’s — now I’m really afraid of it because of her.”

(Crying)

The transcript adds in parentheses that Applegate is crying during this admission — again a raw, honest, and real reaction. But the most important thing here is that she’s talking about it, which is brave, and isn’t that what deathcare hopes more people could do?

Every person’s life story is about so much more than their death, and Applegate (and Keanu Reeves and Jeremy Renner and every other celebrity who has openly discussed their thoughts on mortality) is no exception. These thoughts probably shouldn’t be the most publicized segment of celebrity narratives. Like it or not, though, some people take cues from famous people, and it’s great to know that several of them are setting a great example when it comes to death and dying.