Christina Applegate Opens Up About Eating Disorder Triggered by "Married… with Children" Role
Christina Applegate, the actress known for her role as Kelly Bundy on the hit sitcom "Married… with Children," has recently shared a deeply personal revelation about her struggles with an eating disorder that developed during her time on the show. In a candid conversation on her "MeSsy" podcast with former co-star Katey Sagal, Applegate detailed how the pressures of portraying a character constantly scrutinized for her beauty and sex appeal contributed to a harmful relationship with food.
"Playing that character kind of did things to me in my psyche that were no bueno – like anorexia," the 53-year-old actress revealed. She explained that the eating disorder began during her tenure on "Married… with Children," which aired from 1987 to 1997, and persisted for a significant period.
Applegate admitted that she kept her struggles hidden from those around her at the time, choosing to suffer in silence. "Yeah, I kept everything close to the chest. There’s a lot of stuff that happened in the wings of my life that you guys didn’t know about," she confessed to Sagal.
She recounted instances of hiding to eat, driven by immense shame and fear of judgment. "I would hide in bathrooms to eat, because I had so much shame around eating that I would hide on the airplanes, like when we went to London," Applegate shared. "I remember hiding in there to eat like one shrimp, cause I was so afraid if anyone saw me eat that they’d think I was going to try to get fat or something. I don’t know. I was in such a dark space."
Sagal, who played Applegate’s onscreen mother, Peggy Bundy, expressed surprise and empathy upon hearing about her co-star’s experience. "I didn’t know all that," Sagal said, prompting Applegate to reiterate her private nature during that period.
Sagal acknowledged the intense scrutiny Applegate faced as the show’s "sex symbol." "Being a sex symbol at 17 would f— with anyone’s head," Sagal remarked, adding that "Married… with Children" was a "very misogynistic show."
While Sagal said she felt comfortable making jokes on the show because she saw it as part of her character, she believed Applegate was under a lot of pressure to fit into a certain mold. "So they put her in tighter skirts and shorter skirts, so, there was a lot of that," Sagal said.
Interestingly, Applegate revealed that the provocative wardrobe choices for her character, Kelly Bundy, were initially her idea. She explained that the character was originally written as a "tough biker girl," but she drew inspiration from a woman featured in the 1981 documentary "The Decline of Western Civilization: Part II: The Metal Years." Inspired by the rock video vixen zeitgeist, she proposed a change to the wardrobe department, wanting to represent the image of men and women having similar hairstyles.
However, Applegate admitted that she "shot myself in the foot" by suggesting a sexier version of the character, which required her to maintain a slender physique.
In a 2023 interview with Vanity Fair, Applegate reflected on the excessive focus on her physical appearance during her time on "Married… with Children." "I was never on the receiving end of any kind of lasciviousness from anyone before [Married … with Children], because I was wearing bells around my ankles and moccasins and wearing patchouli," she said. "I was a gross little hippie kid. Looking back on it in hindsight, it’s pretty gross. Yeah, that part of it kind of sucked. Men had posters of this little 17-year-old, with me holding pearls. Like, who let me do that? I didn’t even know what the connotation was."
Applegate first publicly addressed her anorexia on her podcast in May of the previous year. "I just deprived myself of food for years and years and years. It was f—ing torture," she said. "I wanted my bones to be sticking out, so I didnt eat."
Despite her efforts to conceal her struggles, Applegate revealed that people on set noticed her eating habits. "It was very scary to everyone on set because they were like, ‘Christina never eats.’ And I didnt," she admitted. "They talked to me about it." The costume department even altered her outfits to fit her shrinking frame, with sizes going below zero.
During the recent podcast episode, Sagal also shared that her character, Peggy Bundy, was initially written as "slovenly," but she decided to present a sexier image during her audition. She explained that she wore tight dress and put on cat eye glasses, and had her hair up. The producers liked the sexy look, and "then you’re stuck in those clothes."
The two actresses also concurred that their characters were "dumbed down" over time by the show’s writers. "We didn’t start stupid," Sagal stated. Applegate added, "Kelly couldn’t open a door once. I was like ‘Are we really going here? This is what’s happened now?’ Like, she can’t open a door?"
Sagal recalled Applegate’s desire for a normal life during her teenage years on the show, a sentiment she found difficult to relate to, having worked hard to pursue acting.
"I just wanted to be normal, man," Applegate said, emphasizing her lack of typical high school experiences. She was in school with her onscreen brother, David Faustino.
Sagal praised Applegate for successfully navigating the challenges of being a child star. "Christina is one of the few that’s made it through," Sagal said. "I mean, I think it’s really tough, that child-star road is like, man. And Christina has, you just made the transition seamlessly, which is not the experience of a lot of people."
Applegate attributed her smooth transition to the support of Sagal and Ed O’Neill, who played her onscreen father. She described "Married… with Children" as the "black sheep" of television at the time, noting that the cast was not treated with special privileges. "There was no place for all that other bulls— to get in the way, like the ego and thinking you’re better than everyone else, and I think that’s what happens to these young kids, that they get treated better," Applegate explained.
Applegate recounted an incident where she asked a stage manager for an orange juice while running a fever, only to be told, "You have legs." "And I’ll never forget that as long as I live," she said, adding, "Oh yeah, you can do it for yourself."
Christina Applegate’s candid discussion about her eating disorder and the pressures she faced during her time on "Married… with Children" sheds light on the challenges faced by young actors in the entertainment industry and the potential impact of societal expectations on body image and mental health.
