Breast cancer survivor Christina Applegate, 52, seen puffing on cigarette in LA amid MS health battle

Breast cancer patient Christina Applegate was spotted smoking a cigarette as she battled multiple sclerosis, according to exclusive photos obtained by DailyMail.com.

The 52-year-old actress, who has struggled with several health issues throughout her adult life, has opened up about living with MS since she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease three years ago.

But it seems that despite her current condition, the mother of one still hasn’t kicked an unhealthy habit. Last week, she couldn’t resist smoking a cigarette in Los Angeles.

Photos obtained by DailyMail.com show Applegate stopping for a cigarette near her car before an appointment near Hollywood on Thursday.

The Married…with Children alum, who was accompanied by a dark-haired friend, wore no makeup and dressed casually for the outing.

She had her hair tied in a loose messy bun and wore a gray graphic tank top. She was also seen with a blue bandage wrapped around her right hand.

Applegate has been open about her health issues in recent years, including being diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer and undergoing a double mastectomy in 2008.

She made a full recovery, but 13 years later, in 2021, she faced an even more serious health scare. She announced that she had been diagnosed with MS and that she will likely never appear on camera again.

The disease, in which the immune system attacks the body, causing nerve damage to the brain and spinal cord, is an incurable, lifelong condition. Symptoms can be mild in some, and more extreme and severely disabling in others.

The cause of the disease is unclear and may be genetic, but is not directly hereditary.

Smoking and low vitamin D levels are also associated with MS.

Just last week, Applegate was a guest on James Corden’s SiriusXM podcast This Life of Mine, where she said reality TV helped her cope with her MS treatments.

“Anyone who knows me well knows that it’s on 24/7 in my room, because I don’t leave my room very often,” the 52-year-old Emmy winner said of her $950,000 Hollywood Hills home.

“I know it sounds really depressing, but sometimes I just need some sleep.”

As for her favorites, Christina always seems to focus her TV shows on the cable network Bravo.

‘Reality TV. Anything. Just give me one. Give me a Vanderpump [Rules]“Give me a Below Deck, give me a Housewife,” she told Corden.

‘I love seeing the imperfections of real people, really, wow. Those people exist. I love that.

“That’s why I love reality TV. I think it’s scary that people walk around this earth and behave like this.”

During the podcast, which was recorded on April 8, Applegate also tearfully opened up about the moments leading up to her diagnosis. She said she received the tragic news during a Zoom call with her doctor on the set of the Netflix series Dead to Me.

“He just looked at me and said, ‘I’m so sorry,’ and I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ and he said, ‘Here’s a picture of your brain,'” Applegate said as tears filled his eyes.

‘Sorry. And there’s about 30 lesions on my brain. I said, “No, please don’t tell me this. Please don’t tell me this.” I had to call production. I said, “Guys, it’s f***ing MS.” And they said, “Okay, we’re closing the whole week.”

Applegate recently teamed up with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, a fellow MS patient who has battled the disease for 22 years. Together, they produce and host a podcast called MeSsy, which launched on March 19.

The Hollywood star and the 43-year-old former Sopranos host have since interviewed their famous friends Martin Short, Jimmy Kimmel, Jean Smart, Katie Couric and Will Ferrell.

Earlier this year, she was also a guest on her daughter Sadie’s podcast, where the 13-year-old talked about how difficult it is to watch her mother battle MS.

When Applegate welcomed the teen to the show, she described her daughter as the best guest she “could ever have had” and her reason for getting up in the morning.

Sadie has accompanied her mother to several star-studded events over the years, including the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards and the 2024 Emmy Awards.

In March, Applegate admitted that multiple sclerosis has affected her ability to raise children.

“She’s had to see the loss of her mother, the way I was a mother to her,” the actress told People. “Dancing with her every day. Picking her up from school every day. Working at her school, working at the library. Being present outside the house, outside my bed. She doesn’t see those things anymore.”

She added: ‘This is a loss for her too. And we’re both learning as we go.’