Christina Applegate got candid about losing her late boyfriend, Lee Grivas, to addiction in 2008.
After guest Robert Iler discussed his battle with addiction on Applegate, 53, and Jamie-Lynn Sigler’s “MeSsy” podcast on Tuesday, November 4, the Dead to Me actress couldn’t help but reflect on Grivas’ death.
“I kind of don’t understand sometimes like with Lee, which people know about. You could Google it, whatever,” Applegate shared. “My boyfriend who passed away, it was like I tried everything, right? And he still wanted to escape. When he passed away, it was just like, ‘’F*** man.’”
In July 2008, Grivas, who was 26 at the time, was found dead from an apparent drug overdose in his Hollywood apartment.
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“I am profoundly saddened,” Applegate shared in a statement at the time. “Lee was an incredible human being who was an extremely important and beautiful part of my life. He is missed beyond words. He touched so many and I feel much sadness for his mother, brother and all of his family and friends.”
While Applegate has not shared much about Grivas’ passing, she has opened up about dealing with grief following the death of her father, Robert Priddy, in April. (Priddy was 82 when he died, although his cause of death has not been publicly disclosed.)
“I lost my dad, but I had someone say, ‘Which part of the stages of grief are you on?’” she recalled during an episode of her “MeSsy” podcast in May. “And it was such a profound thing because I had to say to like one of my dearest friends, like, ‘No. I don’t do stages of grief. There is no set rules as to how I’m grieving this.’”
Applegate went on to share that her grieving process was similar to accepting any “chronic illnesses or diseases that we go through.”
“There are no set rules, and you have to forgive yourself for that,” she explained. “Because when she said that, I was like, ‘Oh, f***. Maybe I should be doing, you know, anger, denial … till I get to the end of ellipsis and then whatever.’”
Christina Applegate is ready to open up about her career and battle with multiple sclerosis (MS) in her upcoming memoir. Hachette Book Group announced on Thursday, July 17, that Applegate, 53, will be releasing her debut book titled You With the Sad Eyes next year. “I truly believe that books can make people feel less […]
Although she has no “set rules,” Applegate does not want to forget her dad over time.
“I don’t wanna get to the point where it doesn’t hurt that he’s gone,” she shared.
In addition to healing from loss, Applegate has been dealing with her own health issues after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021. (According to the National MS Society, the disease affects the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. Symptoms may include numbness, tingling, pain, memory loss, blindness and paralysis.)
“I want to do these things and I can’t, and it feels like I’m getting worse,” Applegate shared during an appearance on Hoda Kotb’s “Making Space” podcast in April. “And that’s disheartening. But then there’s like this voice inside of me that is like, ‘You’ve got to believe in a miracle. You’ve got to believe in another side of this.’”
Applegate continued: “That’s just kind of where I’m at right now, which is not very inspiring to anyone. If someone listening to me goes, ‘Oh my God, I feel that way, and I feel like I’m not doing it right.’ There is no doing MS right.”