.jpeg "Christina Applegate Says She Was “Madly in Love” With Johnny Depp as a Teen")
The book is a candid, emotional look at the Emmy-winning actor’s teenage years in Hollywood, her complicated relationships, and the physical and emotional challenges she has faced in recent years — especially since being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2021.
Among the memoir’s most surprising revelations is Applegate’s long-kept teenage obsession with actor Johnny Depp, a crush she describes as her “first great unrequited heartbreak.”
A Teenage Crush on Johnny Depp
Applegate writes that her infatuation began in the late 1980s after she appeared as a guest star on the hit TV series 21 Jump Street in 1988.
At the time, Applegate was just 15 years old, while Depp — already becoming a teen idol — was 23.
The appearance gave her access to Depp’s circle of friends and the show’s Vancouver filming set, where she sometimes spent time with the cast. In her private journals from that period, Applegate described herself as “madly in love” with him.
Despite her intense feelings, she writes that Depp always behaved respectfully and never encouraged the crush.
“He behaved impeccably,” she writes, explaining that he mostly saw her as “just one of the guys.”
Her diary entries reveal the emotional highs and lows of teenage infatuation — from dreamy fantasies to the painful realization that the relationship would never happen.
“I’ve been having really strange dreams about Johnny,” she wrote in one entry. “I can’t sit here and wish he was something he’s not.”
During that time, Depp was involved with actor Winona Ryder, whom he met while filming Edward Scissorhands.
Adding to the unusual closeness of their worlds, Applegate’s mother was also friends with Lori Allison, which kept Applegate occasionally within Depp’s broader social circle.
The Famous Brad Pitt VMAs Story
Another chapter revisits one of Hollywood’s most talked-about dating stories: the night Applegate famously ditched Brad Pitt at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1989.
At the time, Pitt was still relatively unknown. Applegate brought him as her date to the ceremony but left him midway through the event to spend time with Sebastian Bach, the lead singer of Skid Row.
The decision quickly became part of Hollywood legend.
According to Applegate, Pitt ended up driving her mother home after she left the event, and he reportedly did not speak to her for years afterward.
The brief fling with Bach also ended quickly when Applegate learned he already had a partner and a child.
Reflecting on the story now, Applegate jokes in the memoir about how the moment turned out in hindsight.
While Pitt went on to become one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, she quips that Bach “still has long hair, I guess.”
Early Relationships and Marriages
Applegate also details her early romantic life in Hollywood.
At age 17, she briefly dated Anthony Kiedis, frontman of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The relationship ended quickly after an awkward date where Kiedis told her he didn’t wear deodorant and later asked her to do his laundry.
Her first marriage was to actor Johnathon Schaech. The couple dated for four years before marrying in 2001.
In the memoir, Applegate admits she had doubts even on the wedding day.
As she walked down the aisle, she recalls thinking, “Oh f—,” realizing she may have made a mistake. The marriage lasted until 2007, though the two remain friendly today.
Finding Stability With Martyn LeNoble
Applegate eventually found lasting support with musician Martyn LeNoble, a founding member of Porno for Pyros.
The two had known each other for more than a decade before starting a relationship in 2008. They married in 2013 and share a daughter, Sadie Grace, born in 2011.
LeNoble supported Applegate through major health challenges, including her battle with breast cancer in 2008 and her diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis in 2021.
A Memoir About Much More Than Hollywood Dating
While the celebrity stories are among the book’s most widely discussed moments, You With the Sad Eyes focuses heavily on deeper struggles.
Applegate writes openly about growing up in a troubled household in Laurel Canyon, describing abuse and her mother’s addiction. She also recounts the intense pressure she felt as a child actor while starring on the sitcom Married... with Children, including her struggles with body image and anorexia.
The memoir also includes difficult personal disclosures, including a 1991 abortion and experiences with domestic violence earlier in her life.
Life After an MS Diagnosis
Since being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, Applegate says she has adopted what she calls an “honesty missile” approach to life — choosing openness over the polished public persona she once felt expected to maintain.
She contrasts the emotional chaos of her teenage journals with the perspective she has today, often finding humor in her younger self’s dramatic heartbreaks.
The memoir moves away from the inspirational “warrior” narrative that followed her breast cancer battle in 2008. Instead, Applegate describes the reality of living with MS, including mobility challenges and the emotional toll of chronic illness.
A Raw Look at a Complicated Life
Published by Little, Brown and Company in the United States and Headline Publishing Group in the United Kingdom, the roughly 300-page memoir is available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats — the latter narrated by Applegate herself.
Early readers have described the book as raw, darkly funny, and deeply honest.
For Applegate, revisiting the journals she once kept locked away has become a way to process the past — and, ultimately, to find healing in it.
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