Christina Applegate gets standing ovation at Emmys amid MS battle

Stars talk impact of Emmys' 75 years

Amanda Salas talked to the stars on the silver carpet to talk about 75 years of the Emmy Awards.

LOS ANGELES - Christina Applegate was moved to tears during the 2024 Emmy Awards Monday night after she received a standing ovation from the crowd amid her battle with multiple sclerosis.

The "Married… With Children" star joined host Anthony Anderson on stage to present Ayo Edebiri the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series award for her role on "The Bear."

Applegate, who revealed in 2021 that she was diagnosed with MS, began by listing some of her notable roles throughout her Hollywood career, including Samantha in "Samantha Who?" and Jen Harding in "Dead To Me."

"But very few of you probably know me from that debut – I’m going to cry more than I’ve been crying – Baby Burt Grizzell "‘Days of Our Lives,’" she said, referring to her first-ever screen credit from 1972.

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Christina Applegate and host Anthony Anderson speak onstage during the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards at Peacock Theater on January 15, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Monica Schipper/WireImage)

A photo of herself as Baby Burt Grizzell flashed on screen, to which Applegate replied, "it was really a breakout role."

"It’s been an honor to play funny, flawed complex characters," she added.

Speaking to Variety in 2022, Applegate spoke out about her MS diagnosis while filming "Dead To Me."

"I didn’t know what was happening to me," she said. "That January, my toes got numb, and I ignored it. The balls of my foot got numb, and I ignored it. All of a sudden, I’d be, like, falling over. People were like, ‘Oh, it’s just neuropathy.’"

"At this point, they had to take me with a wheelchair to set because I couldn’t walk if the set was far. I was sleeping all the time, and I gained 40 pounds — a lot of things happened," she said.

In February 2023, Applegate said that her then-recent Screen Actors Guild Awards appearance would most likely mark the final awards ceremony she attended.

She told the Los Angeles Times at the time, "It’s my last awards show as an actor probably, so it’s kind of a big deal."

Applegate was also a nominee at Monday’s show, earning recognition for her performance in Netflix’s "Dead to Me" in the outstanding lead actress in a comedy series category, which "Abbott Elementary" star Quinta Brunson won.