Megyn Kelly has faced a wave of backlash from celebrities after criticizing Christina Applegate over the actress’s experience with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Applegate, 54, stunned fans this week by revealing that her doctor now believes she may not have MS, despite more than five years of debilitating symptoms.
The actress publicly disclosed her diagnosis in summer 2021. Speaking on the latest episode of her Messy podcast, she said her doctor’s new assessment had left her without answers, explaining that a misdiagnosis did not mean she had suddenly recovered.
Applegate added that her condition had, if anything, deteriorated, leaving her “back at square one” and unsure what was causing her symptoms.
Kelly discussed Applegate’s revelation on The Megyn Kelly Show, accusing the actress of taking her audience on what she described as a “wild goose chase.”
The SiriusXM host questioned Applegate’s changing diagnosis and suggested that celebrities sometimes embrace health struggles publicly in order to become associated with a particular illness.
Kelly also claimed Applegate had built a “cottage industry” around discussing MS and implied that the actress was upset about no longer being able to present herself as the face of the disease.
Kelly’s remarks spark backlash
Kelly’s comments quickly drew fierce criticism online. Janice Dean, a former Fox News colleague who has lived with MS, described Kelly as a “mean girl” in a strongly worded post on X.
Dean began by saying she had remained silent about Kelly for a long time. She then alleged that Kelly had stopped communicating with her after endorsing Andrew Cuomo for mayor and learning that Dean felt deeply hurt by the decision.
Dean called Kelly’s remarks about Applegate “disgusting” and pointed to her own more than 20-year struggle with MS, including the lengthy process it took for doctors to diagnose her.
She defended Applegate as courageous for speaking openly and said she was grateful the actress had become a voice for many people with the condition. Dean added that she had been ill for several weeks and in and out of the hospital, promising to say more when she was well enough.
Conservative political commentator Eric Bolling defended Kelly, saying he had worked with both women at Fox and had personally seen Kelly support Dean and help advance her career.
Bolling criticized Dean for publicly attacking Kelly and labeling her a “mean girl,” describing the move as disgraceful.
He said people could disagree with Kelly without using a former friendship to fuel a public pile-on, adding that he remained proud to call Kelly his friend and stood behind her.
Representatives for Kelly and Applegate declined to comment when contacted by The Daily Mail. A representative for Dean has also been approached for a response.
Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert also joined the criticism, taking aim at Kelly on social media.
Earlier this year, Kelly criticized Gilbert for promoting her lifestyle brand online after the actress faced child sex abuse charges, which were dismissed in October 2026.
In an Instagram post, Gilbert asked Kelly to consider how she would feel if she were diagnosed with a devastating disease, chose to keep living her life while advocating for others, and later learned that the diagnosis had been incorrect.
Gilbert said such a person would still be dealing with the same debilitating symptoms while facing a new series of painful tests to determine the real cause of the illness. She urged Kelly to imagine what that experience might feel like.
Kelly faces further criticism over remarks
‘Still battling the same debilitating, horrible symptoms while now having to put your body through a myriad of new, painful tests to figure out why you are so horribly sick. I just want you to imagine that for one moment. Imagine what that might feel like for you.
‘Or how you might feel if it happened to one of your children or your spouse or someone you cared deeply about. I just sometimes wish that maybe you’d take a moment to dig deep in your soul and find a modicum of empathy, before you speak. Please feel free to go after me now.
‘Actually, I’d prefer that, than you attack someone who, along with those who love her, are truly suffering. @christinaapplegate @megynkelly @megynkelly @amevipix #empathy #compassion #takeabreath.’
The View hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Sara Haines also lambasted Kelly, with the Ghost star saying: ‘So, let me ask you, ma’am, you think Christina wanted to have MS so she could have a good time? Are you crazy?’
Haines added: ‘Who wants to be the face of MS? Talk about kicking someone when they’re down. She got a diagnosis and wanted to help other people.’
The social media furor comes days after Applegate’s tearful misdiagnosis reveal.
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Speaking of the moment her doctor told her of her misdiagnosis, a tearful Applegate, who was recently hospitalized, said: ‘She came into my room and said, “Congratulations, you don’t have MS”.
‘I was, like, not happy at all. Everybody else was so happy.
MS is a condition in which the immune system attacks the body and causes nerve damage to the brain and spinal cord.
It is an incurable, lifelong condition. Symptoms can be mild in some, and in others more extreme causing severe disability.
Symptoms include fatigue, difficulty walking, vision problems, bladder problems, numbness or tingling, muscle stiffness and spasms, problems with balance and co-ordination, and problems with thinking, learning and planning.
Applegate opens up about ongoing health struggles
Applegate, who has relied on a wheelchair and cane for years, and been forced to step away from her stellar acting career, said: ‘I’ve gone through a great depression because of it.
‘But I lost everything. I lost my job. I lost – I’m sorry. What do you say to someone who’s been living with this for six years – God, I’m so sorry – because it stopped my life.
‘I still have to use wheelchairs when I go to the doctor’s office. I can’t walk from the car to the room. I’m still in this. Nothing magical happened when she said, “You don’t have MS.” Nothing magical happened.
‘It’s weird because I feel like I let everybody down, It’s this weird feeling because I became this – you and I, the poster children for MS.
‘And everything I was doing. I had a reason. I had a [expletive] reason as to why my day sucked every day.
‘And now I don’t have a reason and it’s very unnerving and it’s very confusing for me.’
Applegate added the misdiagnosis is a ‘[expletive]’ and that she is still in ‘a state of shock’ as she seeks answers over the true nature of her illness.
Earlier in February, Applegate shared that she is mainly confined to her bed due to her MS battle.
During an interview with People at the time, the star explained how the pain has largely kept her in bed.
However, she will make the effort to leave her bedroom for her teenage daughter Sadie, such as taking her to school.
‘I want to take her; it’s my favorite thing to do. It’s the only time we have together by ourselves,’ the actress told the outlet.
‘I tell myself, “Just get her there safely and get home so you can get back into bed.” And that’s what I do.’
Applegate further expressed: ‘My life isn’t wrapped up with a bow. People’s lives, sorry for lack of a better term, [expletive] suck sometimes. So I’m being as honest and raw as I possibly can.’
‘I don’t have patience for [expletive] any more, for things that are meaningless or merely “extra.”‘
Applegate shared the news of her MS diagnosis on social media in August 2021.
And in 2022 she posted a photo of her canes, and said needing help with walking is her ‘new normal.’
During an episode of her MeSsy podcast last year, the actress revealed that she had been hospitalized multiple times amid her MS battle.
‘For three years since I was diagnosed, I’ve been in the hospital upwards of 30 times,’ she told her co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who is also battling the same disease.
‘That is unimaginable, okay? They’ve done every test known to man on me, put so much radiation into my body from CT scans to everything else.’
When it came to penning her memoir, which was released on March 3, Applegate previously shared that she made the decision to pen the book when she was ‘forced to slow down.’
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