Unflinchingly honest and darkly funny, You with the Sad Eyes unveils a side of Christina Applegate we’ve never seen, forever cementing her formidable and iconoclastic legacy.
Christina Applegate came of age on sets and stages, expected to be on time, with lines learned, ready for lights-camera-action. Performing began as a financial necessity and became an emotional escape from a tumultuous home life in the infamous Laurel Canyon scene of the 1970s and 80s. She first gained stardom as an audience favorite playing Kelly Bundy in the sitcom Married...with Children and went on to captivate a vast fandom during her five-decade long career.
In You with the Sad Eyes, Applegate will unveil the full story of her years in the public eye, and the painful moments the public didn't see. She writes about gravitating to the grunge that defined the 90s and finding belonging in the legendary scene at The Viper Room; sparkling on set with fellow comedy icons in the soon to be canonized franchise Anchorman; sharing her love of dance in the Broadway revival of Sweet Charity; and returning to the Emmy stage to a standing ovation in 2024 after her diagnosis of MS. She’ll dive into the darker moments underpinning her outward her relationship with her mother who fought addiction and won, even in the wake of her father’s abandonment; the self-doubt and body dysmorphia that have dogged her from a young age; and the abuse and depression that eroded her health. Her path is ever lit though, by lifelong friends, chosen family, and her experience as a mother. By working through her legacy on the page, Applegate invites readers to take her hand and hear a story not even those closest to her know fully.
You with the Sad Eyes boldly presents a formidable and iconoclastic woman who has had to let go of her acting career, of her ability to dance, of her sense of physical power, but has always fought to find a new and even more fulfilling way of being. The pain will be matched by the joy, the losses mitigated by the extraordinary, the weight of life lifted by Applegate's signature comedic genius.
In her own words, “I truly believe that books can make people feel less alone. That's why I'm doing this. You with the Sad Eyes won't be some big violin scratching for my life. But it will be real. It will be filled with the ups and downs, the humor and grief of life.
Christina Applegate is an actress most known for her award-wining sitcom roles in Married... with Children (1987–1997) and Jesse (1998–2000), along with dozens of film roles. On 14 November 2022, she received a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Christina Applegate's memoir really goes to show that just because you see someone with success, fame, money, it does not mean their life is in any way easy. She has led a truly traumatic life from start to current times, but with moments of happiness sprinkled in. This book will make you incredibly sad, but listening to the audio and hearing her tell her story in her own voice was empowering and magical, and I'm grateful she decided to share her story with the world.
Oh Christiana what a life you have lived. So much trauma and sorrow for somebody so young. What a brave woman, still fighting even though she is bedridden with MS.
This memoir made me cry so many times, it did also make me laugh. A must read
This is raw and fascinating and moving. Applegate has had a life full of the amazing and magical and the terrible and harrowing. She grew up in deprivation, with an absent father and an addict for a mother, and then an abusive addict for a stepfather. She worked to keep a roof over their heads. She was in violent, abusive relationships starting in her teens. She struggled with body issues and self-harm, she had cancer, which led to a double mastectomy, and now she has MS, which has stolen her autonomy and the privilege of being without pain. And she is best friends with Grace Slick's daughter and the former head bartender at the Viper Room. Her godfather, Stephen Stills, took her on tours and had to be yanked from the stage at her first wedding so the band could go on. She hung out with Johnny Depp and fooled around with Keanu. She was an original Pussycat Doll. She worked and remains friends with Will Farrel, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Cameron Diaz, Melissa McCarthy, and scores of others. She married her ultimate rock god and is in love with her lovely daughter. It is an amazing life. I can't imagine who doesn't find it interesting. Is she the world's greatest writer? She is not. But she tells her own story with grace and bracing brutal honesty, and that is more than enough.
One note: I listened to this, which is something I generally like to do with memoirs read by the author. I wish I had read it. Applegate is hella dramatic, and she tells heartbreaking stories descending into a tight, weepy, reedy voice, and then the next line comes, and she is back to her chipper self. I don't think she was being false at all, but that made it feel inauthentic.
I’ve always loved Christina Applegate as an actress, but after reading her memoir, I admire her on a completely different level.
Her storytelling is raw, honest, and surprisingly funny in places you wouldn’t expect. Listening to her narrate the audiobook made it even more personal, it felt like she was sitting across from me just talking about her life. There’s something incredibly powerful about hearing her share, in her own voice, the highs of her career and the heaviness of her upbringing, relationships, and her battle with breast cancer and MS.
I was deeply moved by what she endured behind the scenes. The vulnerability she shows about her childhood, her struggles with self-worth, and the physical and emotional toll of her diagnosis made me respect her resilience even more. She doesn’t sugarcoat anything, but she also doesn’t lose her wit.
After finishing this, I immediately wanted to revisit some of her work, especially Dead to Me and Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, seeing them now with a fuller understanding of the woman behind those performances.
All in all, this memoir felt real, unfiltered, and brave. I’m so glad she chose to tell her story in her own words. (Audio)
I tend to think assigning star ratings to celebrity memoirs is somewhat pointless. In many ways, you’re essentially rating someone’s life, and that’s an inherently subjective exercise. That said, the memoir from Christina Applegate is, without question, one of the most powerful, raw, and impactful celebrity memoirs published in the last decade… and it absolutely deserves five stars.
Her honesty, candor, and deep sense of self reflection shine through on every page. I found myself completely captivated, swept up in her story from beginning to end. At times, the vulnerability in her writing is so profound that I just wanted to reach through the pages, hold her, and tell her everything is going to be okay.
She is truly a force to be reckoned with… an iconic actress with one hell of a Hollywood career, shaped by a past that is as tragic as it is defining. This memoir is moving, fearless, and deeply human. God bless her.
Develops into a heart wrenching account of abuse and physical infirmity with her storied show biz history relegated to the background. Applegate virtually grew up before the camera, attaining stardom on a sitcom, and has never really been on the shelf. While appearing in what turned out to be her final series, she learns she has MS, an incredibly cruel diagnosis given that dancing has always played a huge part in her happiness. As a matter of fact, fate has dealt her several sadistic blows including having her break her foot on the very first night of previews for Sweet Charity, a show she revered featuring choreography by Fosse who she worshipped. These are not spoilers as they are well known facts, but strung together are devastating. Without her fortitude she wouldn't have been able to share her innermost thoughts about these and other life events. Generous and illuminating.
Christina Applegate’s recent memoir You With the Sad Eyes is out and I really enjoyed it. I loved watching Married With Children and especially loved her Netflix series Dead to Me that I watched it several times. This is raw, emotional and now living with MS - it’s “real life” as she’s living it. I admire her honesty and bravery.
DNF. I read about 1/4 on Kindle and decided to stop. Her mother sounds like an idiot but Christina seems to have her on a pedestal. Her mother's incompetence in parenting led to a lot of the traumatic situations that her child ended up in. Anyway, one paragraph would be in the 90s, the next we are back in the 70s on a totally different subject and the next in the 80s. Sorry, I just didn't enjoy reading it the way it was written.
Listened to most of it and read the rest. I like Christina Applegate but I don’t think her writing style is for me. She had some horrible stuff happen to her but I found myself not caring when usually I would be bummed out. She’s a really inspiring but at the same time she pushed herself and gave her body lasting damage to prove a point to who? I feel bad for not liking this book but oh well.
I’ve always thought Christina Applegate was the coolest. I watched all of her movies and shows when I when growing up and wanted to be just like her in “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead.”
This was great insight into what was going on in her life behind the scenes of those shows and how she became the sensation she is. My heart breaks for her as she battles MS, but this book did a great job of reminding us that she’s still the coolest.
I have fond memories of watching Married…with Children reruns with my dad all throughout the 90s. Yeah, it probably wasn’t the most appropriate television show for me to be watching as a preteen/teen, but hey, it was our bonding time, and it was the 90s—anything goes. If I remember correctly, it used to come on at 9:00, then Cheers followed, and once Night Court came on, my dad told me to get to bed! Ha! Anyways, I remember thinking that Kelly Bundy was the prettiest girl I’d ever seen! This was my first introduction to Christina Applegate, and I’ve been a fan ever since.
Applegate pours her heart and soul into her new memoir, YOU WITH THE SAD EYES. She really lets her guard down and doesn’t shy away from revealing the dark and painful moments from her past. I wasn’t prepared for how sad this memoir would be. I didn’t realize how traumatic Applegate’s childhood was, or that she was in an extremely abusive and toxic relationship early on in her career. She speaks of her upbringing and this particular relationship at length. My heart broke for her.
She also spends a lot of time talking about her acting career, giving us little tidbits on other actors, some behind-the-scenes info, and what she was dealing with personally during her time on Married…, Anchorman, Dead to Me, and Samantha Who?. It really broke my heart when she talked about her time on Dead to Me as it was her last acting job—she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis while filming. Applegate discusses her MS journey as the memoir concludes.
Whether you’re a fan of Applegate’s or not, I think you’ll find this memoir quite fascinating either way. She has a powerful story to tell. The audio version is definitely the way to go as it feels like you’re having a deep heart-to-heart conversation with the actress. She occasionally gets emotional, which easily brought tears to my eyes as well. She’s a very brave and admirable woman, that’s for sure. 5/5 stars for YOU WITH THE SAD EYES. Highly recommend!
Raw, honest, and darkly funny. A memoir that lays everything bare — from childhood trauma to the challenges of MS. Christina’s honesty and vulnerability are striking, making her story deeply moving and relatable. I often wished I could reach out and give her a big hug. LOVED THIS! ❤️❤️❤️
Sad and angry with a lot of victimization. I’m a pragmatist and like real accounts that aren’t sugar coated but this just didn’t jive with me. I feel awful about what she’s going through, I love her as an actress in everything she’s done, but this story was just too negative for me. I hope she finds peace.
Oh wow, I loved every second of this audiobook! Christina is an amazing narrator and human being - wish I could be friends with her! I appreciate her humor, conversational writing style and “radical, thoughtful honesty” in detailing her life. Amazing memoir! I highly recommend the audiobook so you can hear the emotion in her reading.
A difficult read for me, a woman who both grew up in the “heroine-chic” body image horror that was the early 2000s and has MS, this was darkly relatable at times. I love her philosophy that this disease sucks I’m not going to be a poster child for hope i’m going to be honest about how much this sucks and that’s so much more empowering.
Let me start by saying I've always loved Christina as an actress and have always thought she was stunningly beautiful. I had no idea she had such a hard life and my heart breaks for her for what she has been through. However, this Memoir wasn't my favorite.
Some reasons why: -She says she hates bragging, but then kind of comes across as braggy in a lot of the book. -She repeated what that girl said to her, "you're doing it" like 10 times. Like we get it, that bothered you. But telling us that constantly, doesn't cover up the fact that you're kind of still "doing it". -Her personality and the way she exaggerated words and emphasized them throughout the book REALLY reminded me of someone I personally know, and who I have a hard time being around for more than 30 minutes. (This is not Christina's fault at all, but it did play a role in me cringing through parts of this book). -I know this one will be an unpopular opinion, but she talks later about how she didn't think she would be able to be a mom, and that is all she ever wanted to be. However, she had already had the chance to be a mom, but made sure that didn't happen. You don't have to agree with my opinion on this, but it just didn't sit right with me. -She talks so highly of her mom, (I mean it is her mom, so I kind of get it), but her mom actually sounds like she was pretty shitty for most of her life. Her dad didn't sound great either, but she admits that and says he got better later in life. I feel like she lets her mom off the hook with far too much. Her mom basically called her fat and contributed to her eating disorder. Left her with people who SA her. Stayed with a man who was abusive to the both of them. And much more.
I am also aware that I have only listened to a like 4 or 5 memoirs so far and I'm starting to wonder if most of them come across as kind of braggy in a way? Maybe it is kind of hard to write a Memoir without coming across that way. So it's possible that part isn't even her fault and maybe I'm just inexperienced in the art of Memoirs.
Things I liked: -I appreciate how vulnerable she was and how honest she was in this book. That took a lot of courage and I respect that.
I really do hope they find a cure for MS and she is able to get better and live a long life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
* It's always so difficult to rate a memoir because this is someone's very personal story, and it's them laying themselves bare for all to see. That said, I do tend to leave ratings because I also think it's okay to share what I thought about the book with others.
* To start, I must say that this is a very emotional and depressing read. Every chapter was just hurt and trauma and bad things happening, and that was difficult to read. It might have been extremely honest, but it was depressing. I'm also not sure that Christina's writing style was completely for me, and some of the humour was totally lost on me. I think my sense of humour is just different, and that's okay. There was also a lot of name dropping thoughtout the book, but unfortuantely, I never knew who 90% of the people were. Christina would drop the name like this person was some extremely well known someone, and I would be like, wait, who, who's that?
* I've read a number of celebrity memoirs over the years, and I always love hearing about the behind the scenes stuff. The interesting stuff that happens during the filming of a movie, or TV show, or concert. And I love hearing about the other famous people that are mentioned in the book, and the crazy things that go on at parties, on set or wherever. Unfortuantely, Christina's memoir contained very little of that. I went into this memoir hoping to learn more about her shows, movies, and her co-stars, but unfortunately, this isn’t that kind of memoir. Her TV shows and movies are mentioned, but there’s no real detail or "meat" to those stories.
* In conclusion, this is an extremely sad story and my heart truly goes out to Christina for everything she's been through. I love her tough, kick-ass attitude to trauma and to her current terrible situation. As for my "enjoyment" of this memoir, it was on the slightly lower end.
A very revealing and raw memoir from actress Christina Applegate, who takes us through not just her acting career, but many difficult experiences in her lifetime from childhood abuse and neglect, disordered eating, low self esteem, and an abusive relationship, and her struggles with MS. The book is told mostly in chronological order, underpinned by excerpts from the journals she has kept all her life.
It’s a sad book as she has been through so much, and you can tell how hard she is on herself not just at the moment things happened but looking back as well. What Christina chooses to share, she is very open and unfiltered with, though occasionally not naming names. She does however skip over whole years of her life at times which sometimes left me a tad confused (for example never naming her ex-husband and only mentioning her doubts on her wedding day and then not being together anymore) - her prerogative of course but interesting when she is SO open about others.
I listened to this on audio and that added so much to the experience as she is so open with her emotions in the recording - at times you can tell she is on the verge of tears or outright crying, other times angry, other times snarking funny.
It feels weird to rate a memoir considering it’s just someone telling you how life has treated them. But this memoir is so raw, funny & heartbreaking, I couldn’t imagine giving it anything other than the highest rating possible. This is nothing short of the best memoir I’ve come across. Highly recommend to one and all!
I’m not okay. The book needs to come with multiple trigger warnings. That being said I absolutely adored this book, despite the pile of tears I lost while listening to it. She pours her heart and soul Into this book and you can’t help but get choked up when she does. Beautifully written. I couldn’t put it down. A true tribute to who the real Kiki is.
I love her so much. What an incredible life she has led thus far. Listening to her read made her story that much more poignant. Emotions I felt and tears I shed right along with her.
Such a good memoir! I have always loved Christina Applegate and this book felt like a conversation. With her being raw and real. Listening to her open up about her struggles with MS and chronic pain was heart breaking and also relatable. I love how vulnerable she allowed herself to be, this book is definitely worth the read and super well done in audio form with her narrating her own story.