Christina Applegate recalls only dating ‘broken birds’ without real jobs

Christina Applegate has revealed that when she was younger, she never dated anyone with a "real job".

The Dead to Me star has reflected on her past relationships during a difficult period in her life.

In a new interview with People, Christina explained that her dating life in her youth was influenced by her mother.

"My mom always said, 'I never met a junkie I didn't like.' And that kind of was how I rolled," she said. "I never was with anyone who had a real job. I was always with these broken birds that I wanted to fix. I just always thought I could do it."

The 54-year-old added, "And you know what? You can't. It's like, if I can be a lesson to anyone."

Christina was previously in a physically abusive relationship that began when she was a teenager. The difficult romance came after the actress experienced a turbulent upbringing.

"I think I had kind of the worst situation from 3 to 7, but there was stuff like that going on in all our homes," she remembered. "Single moms, men coming in and out, drugs. It's always fun to see your mom crying on the floor and you not being taken care of."

The actress has previously spoken about her relationship with her mother.

"My mom, as wonderful as she is - also lovingly, Nancy Priddy, I love you so much, but your tools were a little off," she said during an episode of her MeSsy podcast released in April 2025. "But instinctively, as parents, you're either going to right the wrongs of them before or take what they have."

Christina is gearing up for the release of her upcoming memoir, You With the Sad Eyes, which is due to be published on 3 March.

Describing the book in an Instagram post, she wrote, "My memoir is about survival and all the things that I never told anyone: the good stuff, the terrible stuff, the hilarious stuff, the s**tty sad stuff."