Christina Applegate is speaking publicly for the first time about surviving molestation in her debut memoir, You With the Sad Eyes.
Out March 3, the book pulls back the curtain on the Married with Children star’s tumultuous life, from her abusive childhood to her life-altering multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 2021.
In her memoir, Applegate, 54, recalls being molested at five years old by a female babysitter, which left her “never fully comfortable” with being touched as an adult.
“I knew every part of it was wrong. I felt sick and scared and sad,” she wrote in an excerpt shared with People.
The actor said that as a result, “I never fully felt comfortable being touched, and that’s true still. I’ve never felt comfortable with it my whole life, really, and all because of that girl forcing me to do something I barely understood but that I knew was shameful.”
Raised by a single mother — actor and singer Nancy Priddy — Applegate remembered watching her mother struggle with heroin addiction and a physically abusive boyfriend who eventually turned the abuse on Applegate as well.
“I think I had kind of the worst situation from three to seven,” the Emmy-nominated Dead to Me alum continued. “But there was stuff like that going on in all our homes. Single moms, men coming in and out, drugs.”
Speaking to People ahead of the book’s publication, Applegate admitted that revisiting her past trauma has been cathartic yet difficult. “To be honest, it’s actually opened up so many wounds, and it’s okay because I’m a strong girl, I’m going to get through it,” she said. “But it wasn’t like get to the other end and be like, ‘Ah, now it’s out.’ It was the stuff that I’d never talked about. The stuff that was behind closed doors and that no one but the closest people in my life have ever known happened.”
She added: “Because a lot of it is so heavy. I had someone say to me, ‘Are you doing this because you’re being a victim?’ I’m like, ‘No, I’m empowering other people out there.’ At least I hope to.
“I hope that some girl or boy or anyone who’s gone through being molested or beaten or anything I’ve gone through can go, ‘Oh my God, okay. I’m going to be okay.’”
You With the Sad Eyes will be released March 3.
If you are a child and you need help because something has happened to you, you can call the NSPCC free of charge on 0800 1111. You can also call the NSPCC if you are an adult and you are worried about a child, on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adults on 0808 801 0331.
