Why Katey Sagal Was ‘Safe Space’ for Christina Applegate on Married… with Children Set

Applegate had Sagal as a guest on the March 4 episode of her MeSsy podcast, which she cohosts with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, where she looked back on her 11-season run on Married… with Children, and just how much Sagal meant to her during that time.

“You were a safe space for me,” the 53-year-old actress gushed. “What made you so comforting to me is that you had lived. You had lived a lot of life and a lot of scarring and things had taken place and now you were on that side of strength, and I needed that. I needed that so badly in my life: a stable person. And you were that stability to me always. I always knew if I came to you with something or I cried that you would comfort me, that I’d feel safe.”

Sagal, who said she was “newly sober” when the sitcom debuted in 1987, admitted that despite that strength and stability Applegate saw in her, she was “truly doing the fake it till you make it” method.

“It’s so interesting because I was so new to my own inner journey because I was new to my own recovery journey, but along with that, I was learning very rapidly how to be honest with myself and to how important that is for all of us to be that way,” Sagal, now 71, explained. “And I did have that sense that there was nobody really for you to — I guess what I’m saying is I became very forthright with my journey, which I think opens the door for other people, i.e. you, Chrissy, to be forthright with yours.”

“And, you know, as you’re saying I provided a safe space for you, you were also providing that for me,” she continued. “Because I was learning so much about myself as a person that you would think would be a mature person.”

Sagal, who revealed she had been using drugs and alcohol since she was 15 years old, said because Applegate was just 16 when they met, there was a deep understanding between them.

“I had sort of a youthful [mindset],” Sagal recalled, telling Applegate: “I could relate to you. I could absolutely relate to the pieces of you. And so I wanna say that the safety you were feeling was also the umbrella of recovery. That’s kind of what you were feeling because that was the umbrella around me. I was terrified.”

While she had a “youthful” mindset herself, Sagal described her on-screen daughter as an “old soul,” which she was grateful to have around on set.

And despite the show helping to catapult Applegate’s career, she said she often wished Applegate could’ve had more of a traditional childhood.

“I always felt very much like Christina grew up very quickly and had a sense of maturity about her that was beyond her years,” Sagal said. “There was part of me that felt like, ‘Oh, I want her to be a little girl too.’ And I think sometimes around me, she could feel that way.”

The Dead to Me star said she had no idea how much Sagal was struggling at the time, telling the longtime singer-actress she admired everything about her those days, even down to her outfit.

“I remember the first day I met you, you were wearing these jeans, the way you looked in these jeans and this white t-shirt that was tucked in,” Applegate recalled. “Everything about you was just cool. I was like, ‘She is f—ing cool and knows who she is and damn, I want to be her when I grow up.'”