Megyn Kelly decided the messiest thing she could do this week was mock a sick woman for crying about her own misdiagnosis, and The View burned her alive for it on Thursday, October 22.
The conservative pundit went after Christina Applegate on her show, sneering that the actress's five years of MS advocacy was apparently all for nothing now that doctors say she never had the disease. Then Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, and Sunny Hostin each took turns feeding Kelly into the wood chipper, live on ABC.
The Receipts: What Kelly Actually Said
Here's the clip that started the fire. On The Megyn Kelly Show, Kelly dismissed Applegate's emotional revelation on her MeSsy podcast, where the Dead to Me star told cohost Jamie-Lynn Sigler that recent tests showed she does not have MS after all, despite years of treatment.
"This is, like, the problem with celebrities like wanting to lean into their health problems," Kelly said, in footage replayed by The View and reported by Aol. She then twisted the knife: Applegate is "crying now because I guess she no longer gets to be the face of this disease."
Kelly also called the whole saga "a wild goose chase." Classy.
Whoopi: 'Are You Crazy?'
Goldberg didn't even wait for the clip to finish cooling before going to camera with a direct message.
"So, let me ask you, m'am, you think Christina wanted to have MS so she could have a good time? Are you crazy?" Goldberg said, per MSN's coverage of the segment.
Goldberg also reminded Kelly of the medical fact she apparently skipped: there is no single test that determines someone has MS. Applegate and a neurological doctor made that exact point on the podcast episode Kelly chose to mock.
Sara Haines Goes for the Jugular
Haines asked the question everyone with a functioning soul was asking: "Who wants to be the face of MS?"
She called MS a "debilitating, degenerative, neurological disease" and pointed out that Applegate is still hurting, still symptomatic, and still without answers.
"Talk about kicking someone when they're down," Haines said. "She got a diagnosis and wanted to help other people. Megyn Kelly sold her soul for politics. Which one did a better job here?"
She also called Kelly "a bully," which Navarro quickly upgraded to "a bully for money."
Ana Navarro Compares Kelly to a 'Fungus'
Navarro, the show's resident Republican, made it clear she wasn't even in the mood to discuss Kelly before doing it anyway.
"I think she's like a fungus that thrives on oxygen that she gets by purposely creating outrage," Navarro said, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Then she made it personal and devastating. Navarro revealed her own husband, Al Cardenas, has Parkinson's, another neurological disease, and noted that stars like Michael J. Fox and Carly Simon have helped destigmatize these conditions through public advocacy. You know, the exact thing Kelly just trashed Applegate for doing.
"Neurological diseases are incredibly difficult to diagnose and they are often misdiagnosed because there's a lot of symptoms that mimic other symptoms," Navarro said.
Sunny Hostin piled on too, calling Kelly "an ugly person" and saying that when someone uses a platform for good, "unlike Megyn Kelly, I think they should be applauded."
What Applegate Actually Said
Because the internet loves to lose the plot: Applegate did not announce she's fine. She announced the opposite.
"You don't get misdiagnosed, and then all of a sudden I'm better. I haven't gotten better," she told Sigler on the podcast. "I've gotten worse, in some ways. I'm back at square one. I don't know what's going on with me."
She said she has "every symptom of someone with MS" and that doctors will now investigate what has actually been happening to her body since 2021. Sigler, who was diagnosed with MS in 2001, cohosts the podcast with her.
So Kelly's whole premise, that Applegate faked or milked a disease for clout, collapses the second you hear the actual quote. The woman is sicker than before and has no diagnosis at all. That's not a PR win. That's a nightmare.
The Messy Bottom Line
Goldberg closed the segment with one last swing: "The idea that you would come out and say something like this, Megyn, is unbelievable. I'm going to connect to you and say rethink your position on this, because you're wrong."
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to representatives for both Applegate and Kelly for comment, so there may be a round two. Kelly, for her part, has built an entire brand on this exact kind of outrage farming, and the oxygen just got delivered to her door.
The View airs weekdays on ABC. The receipts are永久 on the internet.
FAQ
What did Megyn Kelly say about Christina Applegate?
On her talk show, Kelly said Applegate was "crying now because I guess she no longer gets to be the face of this disease" and called her MS journey "a wild goose chase," criticizing celebrities who "lean into their health problems."
What did The View hosts say in response?
Whoopi Goldberg asked "Are you crazy?", Sara Haines called Kelly a bully who "sold her soul for politics," Ana Navarro compared her to a "fungus" that thrives on manufactured outrage, and Sunny Hostin called her "an ugly person."
Does Christina Applegate still have symptoms?
Yes. Applegate said on her MeSsy podcast that she has gotten worse in some ways, has every symptom of MS, and is "back at square one" with no diagnosis while doctors investigate what has been happening to her since 2021.