Christina Applegate contracts sapovirus after ingesting fecal matter

Christina Applegate, in black and white gown, stands in front of a blue backdrop

April 24, 2024 1:21 PM PT

Christina Applegate was still recovering from her first run-in with COVID-19 when another virus recently had her health in the toilet again.

The “Dead to Me” star spoke humorously — and graphically — about her “gross” experience with a sapovirus infection in the sixth episode of “MesSy,” the multiple sclerosis-themed podcast she shares with actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler.

“It’s now time for the poop talk,” Sigler introduced the segment.

“It’s a poop pod,” Applegate said. “If you don’t like this part, totally fine. I get it.”

It started with dizzy spells and a bout of uncontrollable diarrhea.

“I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t anything,” Applegate said, so she took a stool test. “You poop into a receptacle, and then you have to scoop your own poop into vials. And it was so gross, I started vomiting whilst doing this.”

The test told her she had contracted sapovirus, which occurs when one person ingests another’s fecal matter, most often via contaminated food. According to the National Institutes of Health, “Sapovirus infections are responsible for both sporadic cases and occasional outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis.”

The culprit, Applegate said, was most likely a takeout salad from a vegan restaurant she’s visited for years and declined to name.

“They say that it’s mostly from salads because cooked food kind of kills the bacteria,” she said. “Someone else’s poop went into my mouth, and I ate it.”

As if the virus wasn’t bad enough, Applegate said it exacerbated the symptoms of her multiple sclerosis, with which she was diagnosed in 2021. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, the chronic illness can cause trouble walking, difficulty with balance and fatigue.

“I woke up at 3 o’clock in the morning in a pool of s—,” she said. “Having MS at 3 o’clock in the morning and trying to change your sheets, it’s not fun.”

She and Sigler then joked about their qualms with adult diapers, which Applegate said she had recently been wearing again out of convenience. Their suggestions included adding Velcro and scrapping the “pretty” designs.

“I think it would be very nice if you could give me an adult diaper that fully supported my mood when I looked at it,” Sigler said, “which would be something along the lines of the words, ‘F— me’ across my pelvis.”

“Again, we’re losing a patent. Someone’s going to do this and make millions,” Applegate riffed.

The Emmy-winning actor has spoken about her experience with MS before, including on “MesSy.”

During the podcast’s third episode, she revealed she was in a relapse at the time of recording, detailing “intense pain” in her legs and discomfort in her eye.

“I couldn’t sleep because every time I would close my eye, my eye would start doing some crazy s—,” she said, adding that damage to the optic nerve can be a symptom of MS.

During a March appearance on “Good Morning America,” Applegate said she suspects she had MS symptoms for several years before her diagnosis.

“I noticed, especially the first season [of “Dead to Me”], we’d be shooting and my leg would buckle,” she said. “I really just put it off as being tired, or I’m dehydrated, or it’s the weather. Then nothing would happen for months, and I didn’t pay attention.”

By the time she was filming the TV series’ third season, she was being brought to set in a wheelchair and sometimes had crew members holding up her legs out of camera range.

Even now, she said, she struggles to accept her diagnosis or explain it to others.

“I live kind of in hell,” she said. “But of course, the support is wonderful, and I’m really grateful.”

Applegate received a standing ovation when she walked onstage to present an award at the Emmys in January. A few months earlier, her former “Married ... With Children” co-star Katey Sagal physically supported Applegate as she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

During her speech, Applegate recalled how, as a child, she would read the names on the stars along Hollywood Boulevard, wondering how she could get hers among them.

“So this day means more to me than you can possibly imagine,” she said.