Christina Applegate Has Had a Complicated Relationship With One of Her Parents

For decades, actor Christina Applegate has been a beloved fixture in Hollywood. From her roles in Married... With Children, to Bad Moms, Mars Attacks, and more, she's versatile and comes packing a serious theatrical punch.

But even as the years have passed and Christina's career has continued to boom, she's doing what all celebrities do and quietly living her life behind the headlines.

Christina's entrance into the world of fame didn't come from nothing; one of her parents is a singer and actor, and both of her parents have had very different roles in her life.

Here's what we know about the parents who raised this Hollywood darling, and how the death of one of them impacted her greatly in 2025.

Christina's mom is Nancy Priddy, a singer and actor who had her own brief stint in the spotlight. According to her IMDb, she was born in Indiana and had only one marriage in her life, to Christina's father.

They were married from 1970 to 1979, and Nancy raised Christina alone.

In an April 2025 episode of her MeSsy podcast, Christina shared that she was raised by her mother alone, adding, "I didn't grow up with my dad. He and my mom separated when I was five months old, but he's been in my life ever since."

Christina says her father "wasn't part of the lessons part of life," but he gave her two "beautiful siblings and an amazing stepmother."

While Christina seems to have had a good relationship with her mom, things with her father were slightly more complicated.

In 2015, she and her father, Robert Applegate, participated in a fact-finding reality series on TLC that dives into the ancestry of celebrities called Who Do You Think You Are?

Unfortunately for Robert, the series unearthed some painful truths from his past. Robert was raised by his grandparents, and there were question marks that loomed over his life about why his parents decided to give up custody.

On the TLC show, court documents show that both Robert's mother and father were accused of dealing with alcoholism and anger issues.

Robert's mother died when she was 33, and he was 13. Her cause of death was "pulmonary tuberculosis and cirrhosis of the liver due to alcoholism."

Christina told her father what the series had uncovered, and comforted her father after piecing together those unanswered questions from his past.

Robert died in 2025, and Christina revealed her struggle with it during that same podcast episode. She shared at the time, "My dad just passed away a week ago. This is the first time I’ve really cried. I think kind of, like, I wasn't allowing myself to have that yet," she added. "Too busy with this, too busy with that."

Christina struggled with the delayed feelings, saying that they had known he was going to die, musing, "Is that an excuse for not feeling? Because you know that someone's gonna go? And you've said your goodbyes?"

Despite growing up with her mom and later reconnecting with her dad, Christina's relationship with him seemed positive. During their interaction on Who Do You Think You Are?, it was evident that they had a warm relationship.

These days, Christina battles with her diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis, with her mom's support.