Christina Applegate uses humour to make others feel comfortable after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

The 51-year-old actress was diagnosed with the degenerative neurological condition in 2021 while she was shooting the last season of her hit Netflix show 'Dead to Me' and she's now opened up about using jokes to cope - especially when she senses people are feeling uncomfortable around her.

During an appearance on 'The Kelly Clarkson Show', Christina explained: "My humour shields keep me OK, but, of course, down on the insides, you feel the things. And I do it to kind of deflect and then also make people not be scared to be around me, you know? When people see me now as a disabled person, I want them to feel comfortable that we can laugh about it."

The actress went on to reveal she had been having symptoms of MS for several years before her diagnosis but she didn't realise until an MRI scan helped doctors explain why she was struggling to walk about on set.

She added: "Shooting ['Dead to Me'] was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. I was diagnosed during shooting and I didn't know what was happening to me. I couldn’t walk. They had to use a wheelchair to get me to set. I was freaking out until someone was like, 'You need a MRI'.

"Then I found out on a Monday after work that I had MS. A disease that I'm going to have for the rest of my life. And then I started thinking about the last four years and I had very small symptoms.

"We were on set, and I would go, 'Oh, I think I'm tired'. So it presented itself a few years ago until it just got as bad as it did."