On Monday night at the 75th Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, Christina Applegate, host of the award for supporting actress in a comedy series, used a cane and walked to the podium with effort and dignity. The 52-year-old actress, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021, wore a red silk velvet dress and her signature side-parted blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders like a golden curtain.
As he spoke into the microphone, panic and determination seemed to wage a battle behind his green eyes. Still, she evoked the charming smile she's been showing America since 1987, when she played teenager Kelly Bundy in the comedy “Married With Children.”
Ms. Applegate wasted no time acknowledging her illness and showing the audience that it would not prevent her from taking the stage. Since her diagnosis, Ella Applegate appears to have experienced some of the debilitating effects of it and she has said that she no longer plans to work in front of the camera.
However, under the bright lights, on a show broadcast to millions of people, he spoke deliberately and made a series of jokes designed to draw attention and divert awareness from his appearance and his chronic illness. Each one walked a thin line.
When some in the audience rose to applaud her, she responded with rebuke. “Thank you very much,” she said. “Oh my god. You are totally embarrassing me for my disability by standing up.”
It's hard to laugh under the best of circumstances at awards shows these days, but that line became awkward. Even Applegate seemed unsure whether she wanted people to celebrate her efforts or treat her as if nothing had happened.
His next punch line, “Ozempic's body,” worked better. He mocked the often unacknowledged change that weight-loss drugs have had on the way many celebrities prepare for awards season, while making a subtle statement that cosmetic concerns pale in comparison to the realities of degenerative diseases.
In Hollywood, where beauty is a currency and physique can make a career, diseases that impede physical function cause a special horror. On occasion, celebrities have made these challenges public: actor Christopher Reeves, who died in 2004, spoke about his paralysis; Actress Selma Blair and actor Michael J. Fox have spoken about their respective battles with multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's.
For anyone to call attention to the fact that an illness has made their body unable to conform to the typical standards imposed by the entertainment industry takes a certain kind of resilience. Perhaps Applegate was more prepared for this moment because she had previously been diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 36, for which she underwent a double mastectomy. There is something powerful about facing the world with an illness that no surgery can hide, and Ms. Applegate seemed comfortable, even emboldened, to be in the spotlight.
The jokes also reminded celebrities in the audience — and viewers at home — that Applegate, who was also nominated for lead actress in a comedy series for her role in “Dead to Me,” has made a career out of being funny. As she described her numerous roles, including her first as Baby Burt Grizzell on “Days of Our Lives,” as the audience continued to applaud, she said flatly, “We don't have to applaud every time I do something.”
But in this case the applause was deserved.
