MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Each week, a guest draws a card from NPR's Wild Card deck and answers a big question about their life. Christina Applegate's new memoir is full of struggles from childhood abuse to life with multiple sclerosis. It's called "You With The Sad Eyes."
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CHRISTINA APPLEGATE: There are things that - yes, I've told my friends, that were pretty horrific and things that my friends had seen. And they always go - they always would say, you should write this down, man.
KELLY: But Applegate also told Wild Card host Rachel Martin about the joys in her life, including the things she loved even more than acting.
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RACHEL MARTIN: What period of your life do you often daydream about?
APPLEGATE: Dancing.
MARTIN: Say more. People may not know this about you.
APPLEGATE: Dance is my love. It's my first love. And I started dancing at 3 years old and became, you know - it's all I wanted to do. I wanted to be a professional dancer. I wanted to dance on Broadway. My mom used to take me to New York all the time because I had - my grandparents were in New Jersey, and I was seeing stuff like the original cast of "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "The Wiz" and everything. Like, that was my dream. And then I became an actress. So that kind of went on hold but not ever in my life. Like, I would leave set and go to dance class until 11 o'clock at night, no matter what.
MARTIN: Yeah.
APPLEGATE: And so, to me, dancing - because I'm I'm a disabled person, I can't dance ever again and - breaks my heart, you know. And, you know, I did get to do my Broadway. I did get to do my "Sweet Charity," my...
MARTIN: Yeah.
APPLEGATE: ...Bob Fosse. I did. And...
MARTIN: That story, Christina...
APPLEGATE: That was the most...
MARTIN: ...Was so, so beautiful and also horrific.
APPLEGATE: Horrifying.
MARTIN: So horrific - oh, my God, I had no idea. You worked very hard to get this part on Broadway and in this dream role in "Sweet Charity." And you broke your damn foot.
APPLEGATE: Yeah, I broke my damn foot.
MARTIN: And you were out for a while, and then you just did it through pain.
APPLEGATE: I had to.
MARTIN: You got nominated for a Tony?
APPLEGATE: Yes, ma'am, I did.
MARTIN: That is still, like, an incredible thing because that - like you said, like, dance is your heart. Dance is who you are.
APPLEGATE: There's nothing like it. I mean, I had to perform also at the Tonys, and I was broken. That foot was broken. And I remember at the beginning of the number, I come downstage, and I look like an insane person. But it's because I said to myself, take this all in. Look around where you are at Radio City Music Hall. Take every bit of it in. Every person, every mezzanine, everything, like, take it all in. I look nuts.
MARTIN: (Laughter)
APPLEGATE: I mean, I had to. If I just let this moment go, I...
MARTIN: Yeah.
APPLEGATE: ...Didn't know if I'd ever be back there again.
KELLY: You can hear more from that conversation on Wild Card With Rachel Martin, Christina Applegate's memoir, "You With The Sad Eyes," is out now. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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