Christina Applegate Jokes Through Tears That Emmys Crowd Shouldn't 'Applaud' Everything She Does amid MS Journey

Christina Applegate received a standing ovation from the audience at the Emmy Awards 2023 when she entered the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

Applegate, 52, walked onstage during Sunday evening's awards ceremony to present the awards for outstanding supporting actress and outstanding lead actress in a comedy series. She navigated the stage with the use of a cane and the help of the night's host, Anthony Anderson.

The entire audience rose as she walked to the podium, leaving Applegate, who publicly disclosed her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 2021, visibly moved — and prepared for some jokes.

"Thank you so much! Oh my God! You're totally shaming me [and my] disability by standing up," she said, generating laughter from the audience. "Body not by Ozempic," Applegate added, slyly referencing the popular weight loss drug. 

"Some of you may know me as Kelly Bundy from Married with Children," the actress said, running through some of her popular television characters over the years. "We don't have to applaud every time I do something," she added after receiving another round of applause.

Applegate then ad-libbed, "I'm going to cry more than I've been crying," while she spoke of her first-ever onscreen appearance in a 1972 episode of Days of Our Lives.

Though Applegate shared in February 2023 that she expected the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards would make for her "last awards show as an actor," she stood as a nominee for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series her role in Netflix's Dead to Me Sunday. Applegate presented Abbott Elementary's Quinta Brunson with that award, while The Bear's Ayo Edibiri won for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series.

Applegate shared in May during an interview with Vanity Fair that she does not expect to work as an actor again following Dead to Me's third and final season. “Right now, I couldn’t imagine getting up at 5 a.m. and spending 12 to 14 hours on a set; I don’t have that in me at this moment," she told the Los Angeles Times back in February 2023.

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See PEOPLE's full coverage of the 75th annual Primetime Emmy Awards as they're broadcasting live on Fox from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.