Entertainment

Christina Applegate contracts virus after eating food contaminated with fecal matter

Published

2 years ago

April 24, 2024

Christina Applegate contracts virus after eating food contaminated with fecal matter

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.

Movie Reviews

Primate

Published

4 hours ago

January 11, 2026

Press Room

Every horror fan deserves the occasional (decent) fix, andin the midst of one of the bleakest movie months of the year, Primatedelivers. There’s nothing terribly original about Johannes Roberts’ rabidchimpanzee tale, but that’s kind of the …

Entertainment

Tom Cherones, director and producer of ‘Seinfeld,’ dies at 86

Published

6 hours ago

January 11, 2026

Press Room

Tom Cherones, director and producer of ‘Seinfeld,’ dies at 86

Television director and producer Tom Cherones, best known for his work on the first five seasons of the Emmy-winning series “Seinfeld,” has died. He was 86.

He died Jan. 5 at his home in Florence, Ore., according to a statement from his family.

He directed some of the most iconic episodes of “Seinfeld,” including “The Chinese Restaurant,” “The Parking Garage” and “The Contest.” The first episode he directed was the show’s second-ever episode, “The Stake Out.” The director ultimately helmed over 80 episodes of the show.

“I think they liked the way I ran the set,” Cherones said of why he was chosen to direct so many “Seinfeld” episodes in an interview with the Television Academy Foundation. “I shot the show a little different … I just shot it in a way that I thought made it look better than the average show.”

Cherones left the show at the behest of its star Jerry Seinfeld.

“Jerry asked me to [leave], he was tired of the same thing I guess,” he told the Television Academy Foundation. “We changed writers almost every season and finally he just wanted somebody else, another presence to try to keep it fresh. He always said from the beginning that when this thing isn’t working anymore we’re going to stop.”

Cherones received six Emmy nominations for his work on “Seinfeld,” winning his sole Emmy for his production work in 1993.

“Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander mourned Cherones death in an Instagram post on Friday.

“Tom directed nearly half the ‘Seinfeld’ episodes. He created the visual style and tone and how to capture the magical interplay of our cast,” Alexander wrote.

“His generosity also enabled me to become a member of the Directors Guild and he was a wonderful mentor. He was a good guy and a wonderful director and teacher. Generations of our fans have and will continue to enjoy his work. Thanks for everything, Tom. Rest well. My love to your family and friends.”

After leaving “Seinfeld,” Cherones would go on to direct 23 episodes of the second season of the Ellen DeGeneres sitcom “Ellen.” He also directed several episodes of the ‘90s NBC sitcoms “Caroline in the City” and “NewsRadio” and stand-alone episodes of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” “Boston Common” and “Desperate Housewives.”

Cherones was born Sept. 11, 1939, in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of New Mexico in 1961. After a four-year stint in the U.S. Navy, he earned a master’s degree from the University of Alabama in 1967.

He worked at a PBS affiliate station in Pittsburgh, including aiding in the production of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Cherones moved to L.A. in 1975 and found production work on such series as “General Hospital” and “Welcome Back, Kotter,” and with several of the major Hollywood production studios.

Later in life, Cherones returned to the University of Alabama to teach production classes from 2002 to 2014.

Cherones is survived by his wife Carol E. Richards, his daughter Susan Cherones Lee, son Scott Cherones and two grandchildren, Jessa and Thomas Cherones.

Movie Reviews

1986 Movie Reviews – Black Moon Rising | The Nerdy

Published

16 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

1986 Movie Reviews – Black Moon Rising | The Nerdy

by Sean P. Aune | January 10, 2026

Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1986 was an exciting year for films giving us a lot of films that would go on to be beloved favorites and cult classics. It was also the start to a major shift in cultural and societal norms, and some of those still reverberate to this day.

We’re going to pick and choose which movies we hit, but right now the list stands at nearly four dozen.

Yes, we’re insane, but 1986 was that great of a year for film.

The articles will come out – in most cases – on the same day the films hit theaters in 1986 so that it is their true 40th anniversary. All films are also watched again for the purposes of these reviews and are not being done from memory. In some cases, it truly will be the first time we’ve seen them.

This time around, it’s Jan. 10, 1986, and we’re off to see Black Moon Rising.

Black Moon Rising

What was the obsession in the 1980s with super vehicles?

Sam Quint (Tommy Lee Jones) is hired to steal a computer tape with evidence against a company on it. While being pursued, he tucks it in the parachute of a prototype vehicle called the Black Moon. While trying to retrieve it, the car is stolen by Nina (Linda Hamilton), a car thief working for a car theft ring. Both of them want out of their lives, and it looks like the Black Moon could be their ticket out.

Blue Thunder in the movies, Airwolf and Knight Rider on TV, the 1980s loved an impractical ‘super’ vehicle. In this case, the car plays a very minor role up until the final action set piece, and the story is far more about the characters and their motivations.

The movie is silly as you would expect it to be, but it is never a bad watch. It’s just not anything particularly memorable.

1986 Movie Reviews will continue on Jan. 17, 2026, with The Adventures of the American Rabbit, The Adventures of Mark Twain, The Clan of the Cave Bear, Iron Eagle, The Longshot, and Troll.