Posted in: Fox, TV | Tagged: christina applegate, married with children

Married… With Children: Christina Applegate on Bond with Ed O'Neill

Ed O'Neill & Christina Applegate reflect on their TV father-daughter relationship, with art imitating life on FOX's Married...With Children.

One thing fans won't typically describe the Fox raunchy sitcom Married…With Children is "wholesome," but that's something we saw in the relationship between TV dad and daughter, Ed O'Neill and Christina Applegate, who played Al and Kelly Bundy on all 11 seasons of the Ron Leavitt and Michael G. Moye. While all the Bundys had their share of high libidos, Kelly could always depend on Al to have her back at the first sign of trouble, which, in most cases, meant disposing of any prospective boyfriend from taking advantage of her, usually meant his fists and throwing him out of their house. It's the type of bond that has remained since the series ended in 1997, continuing through their reunions and to this day. Applegate, who's been open about her ongoing health issues, spoke about her relationship with Married co-star O'Neil on her MeSsy podcast with Jamie-Lynn Sigler.

Christina Applegate on Life Imitating Art with Married…With Children

"I don't even know how to explain this person," Applegate said about O'Neill. "He raised me, so if you don't like anything about me, it's his fault. If you do like anything about me, also his fault. Years and years of my life spent with this man and he's an incredible actor. He's an incredible human being." Both actors have seen their share of sitcom success, along with co-star Katey Sagal, who played Peggy Bundy, the family matriarch. O'Neill made several appearances across TV and film including Finding Dory (2016), Entourage (2015), The West Wing, and the monster ABC hit, Modern Family.

Applegate starred in the NBC sitcom Jesse, both Anchorman films, and had memorable runs on ABC's Samantha Who?, NBC's Up All Night, and Netflix's Dead to Me. O'Neill, Applegate, and Sagal reunited with their Married co-star, David Faustino, who played son Bud Bundy, in his 2009 Sony TV series Star-ving, all playing fictionalized versions of themselves.

When Sigler asked O'Neill about his memories of Applegate on the Married set, "Well, Christina, first of all, was great," he said. "Most people know this; she's got a photographic memory, so she knew all all the lines before anybody could possibly even read them. And she was just a pro. It was great to work with her… Hilarious. I, on the other hand, over time drove Christina nuts for many reasons." The actor went above and beyond for what Al affectionately calls "pumpkin" in the series. "I think I was just trying to hold myself up," she explained. "And Eddie knows that I went through so many behind-the-scenes stuff in my life that I was kinda breaking apart. My way of keeping myself together was kind of keeping this kind of armor up. He went through everything with me. My mom's cancer and other things."

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