Christina Applegate retires from on-camera acting due to MS, but will voice Kelly Bundy on the Married with Children animated show

Last Updated on May 25, 2023

Christina Applegate has sealed her place in pop culture with the lovable ditz Kelly Bundy on Married with Children, as well as with the cult fanbase of Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead and, of course, the Anchorman films. The actress has also recently been public about her struggles with her multiple sclerosis diagnosis. Deadline is reporting that now that Dead to Me has wrapped, Applegate will likely never act in front of the camera again.

Applegate recently spoke about her time acting with co-star Linda Cardellini, “Ping-pong is so much more fun when the other person is just as good as you are. I’m probably not going to work on-camera again, but I’m so glad that I went out with someone who is by far the greatest actress I’ve ever worked with in my entire life, if not the greatest human I’ve ever known.”

With such sad news to hear with a talent like Applegate, one sliver of light comes from her still being able to do voice work. “I can’t even imagine going to set right now. This is a progressive disease. I don’t know if I’m going to get worse. I can do voiceover stuff because I have to support my family and keep my brain working,” Applegate says. And with yesteryear’s news of an animated continuation of her breakout sitcom hit, she will still have the pleasure of returning to the iconic role that people have loved her in for years.

The animated incarnation of Married with Children is still in the works, so there are few details known about it. All she can really divulge is, “I can’t really say much, but all I know is that all four of us are attached to it. It’s not in our hands now, so we’re just kind of waiting.” The “four” she is referring to means the whole Bundy clan — Ed O’Neill as the patriarch shoe salesman, Al, Katey Segal as the big-haired Peggy and her little brother Bud portrayed by David Faustino. Married with Children was one of the shows that put the young Fox network on the map in the late 80s with its irreverent humor and the way it spat in the face of the conventions of the normal family sitcom.