According to unreliable Star Magazine, actress Christina Applegate, 36, is engaged to her boyfriend, Dutch bass player Martyn Lenoble, 39. Lenoble was by Applegate’s side when she battled breast cancer and made the brave decision to undergo a double mastectomy. Star reports that Lenoble proposed on Lance Bass’ boat of all places and that at first she didn’t accept but gradually came around to the idea. They quote a source which claims “he’s been asking her to marry him for months but was rejected - until now,” and that “Christina was incredibly touched by how he stepped up and took care of her.”

Martyn… first proposed in early May, just days before Christina was diagnosed.

“He opened up a bottle of [champagne], brought along a catered meal, put on some Sinatra and went for it,” the insider reveals. “Christina was overcome by his gesture, even though she wasn’t ready to say yes.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, September 22, 2008]

Star reports that Applegate’s rep denies this story, so it could be premature or untrue. It would be Christina’s second marriage as her first to actor Johnathan Schaech ended in 2005 after four years. Their source claims “Christina vowed to never get married again, but then she got sick, and her illness has given her a new perspective on life.” She’s also said to be planning for children now.

Either way, congratulations are in order. Christina seems like she’s back on her feet after a very difficult ordeal and she has a supportive and loving boyfriend. She also confirms that she’s “100% cancer free” after her mastectomy.

Applegate has been confirmed as one of the presenters at this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards. She has also been nominated in the best actress in a comedy category for her ABC sitcom Samantha Who? The Primetime Emmy Awards will air September 21 on ABC.

Christina Applegate is shown on 4/4/08 outside an appearance on Conan. Credit: Patricia Schlein/WENN

Christina Applegate is shown in stills from her movie with Rainn Wilson, The Rocker
The National Enquirer broke the story of Christina Applegate’s double mastectomy two weeks ago, but I made the decision not to cover it at the time and to wait until the actress made the announcement herself. It just seems like a personal medical condition and one that I wouldn’t want to repeat unless she came out with the news on her own - not that we always take the high road on those type of stories.

Applegate, 36, spoke with fellow breast cancer survivor Robin Roberts on Good Morning America this morning and revealed that she did have a double mastectomy, saying that it was a very tough decision that she ultimately made for her health and to be rid of the disease. Her mother is a two-time breast cancer survivor and Applegate learned she had the breast cancer gene, which influenced her decision to undergo a mastectomy. She will have reconstructive surgery:

Having watched her mother, Nancy Priddy, battle breast cancer – and then suffer from a recurrence many years later – the Emmy-nominated star of Samantha Who?, 36, told interviewer Robin Roberts that she wasn’t taking any chances, especially since she has the breast cancer gene, BRCA1.

“My decision, after looking at all the treatment plans that were possibilities for me, the only one that seemed the most logical and the one that was going to work for me was to have a bilateral mastectomy,” said Applegate. “So basically I had a prophylactic double mastectomies.”

Explaining her rationale in taking that dramatic step, she said, “I didn’t want to go back to the doctors every four months for testing and squishing and everything. I just wanted to kind of be rid of this whole thing for me. This was the choice that I made, and it was a tough one.”

The surgery took place three weeks ago. She did not undergo radiation or chemotherapy.

Applegate, whose initial reaction when she received her diagnosis, was. “Oh my god. I was so pissed off, so mad … I was just shaking.” But then, she said, “Immediately I had to go into take-care-of-business mode.”

Asked her prognosis, Applegate told Roberts, also a cancer survivor, “I’m clear. Absolutely 100-percent clear and clean.”

Over the next eight months she will undergo reconstructive surgery. I’m gonna have cute boobs till I’m 90,” she quipped, as Roberts pointed out how Applegate’s sense of humor has helped the actress endure the ordeal.

[From People.com]

Now that Applegate has announced that she had a double mastectomy, I don’t feel bad about repeating other gossip about her. The Enquirer reports in their latest issue that she made the decision not to undergo chemotherapy in order to be able to have a baby. Chemotherapy can cause women to be infertile by stopping ovulation. Applegate is dating 39 year-old Martyn Lenoble, a bass player from Holland. He is said to have been incredibly supportive during her cancer diagnosis and treatment, accompanying to the hospital and being there for her. Applegate wants to have a baby as soon as possible, according to the Enquirer:

Christina decided to opt out of the chemotherapy regimen because it can permanently stop ovulation, leaving her infertile, according to an insider. However, another leading medical expert says Christina is making a smart decision.

Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Yale University told The Enquirer she thinks Christina’s decision to refuse chemotherapy is “absolutely reasonable.”

“I think sometimes breast cancer patients are overtreated to make sure that the cancer is cured. I applaud this, but I think that oncologists should assess the needs of the patient as well.”

Christina now plans to conceive a baby with her boyfriend, musician Martyn Lenoble, 39, as soon as possible. If necessary, after giving birth, she may have to evaluate further treatment options.

“A baby is the most important thing in the world to her right now,” said the insider. Having a baby is her dream.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, August 25, 2008]

As JayBird reported earlier today, Applegate is cancer-free and doctors are confident that they removed all the cancer. Maybe she’ll be able to have a child soon if this news that she’s hoping for a baby is true. She deserves a lot of credit for making that very difficult choice to get a double mastectomy and for talking publicly about it. Her story will surely help other women battling cancer along with those who may be able to catch it early as she did.

Christina Applegate is set to share some fabulous news this morning. According to E!, Applegate filmed an interview with Robin Roberts on Monday morning in which she says that she is now completely free of cancer – a true testament to the importance of early detection.

Christina Applegate has great news. “They got everything out, so I’m definitely not going to die from breast cancer,” the Samantha Who? star says in an interview scheduled to air Tuesday on Good Morning America. The 36-year-old actress, whose mom also battled—and survived—the disease, revealed earlier this month that she had been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer and was undergoing treatment.

Applegate, said that she has been getting regular mammograms since she turned 30. A second MRI, part of the follow-up from a biopsy she had last year, revealed the cancer. “I was so mad and I—I just remember I was—I was just shaking,” she told GMA cohost Robin Roberts, herself a breast-cancer survivor, on Monday. “And then also immediately, I had to go into…’take-care-of-business mode,’ which was…I asked them, ‘What do I do now? What—what is it that I do? I get a doctor, I get a surgeon, I get an oncologist? What do I do?’”

Apparently she did what was right for her, which included penciling in all the help she needed and switching to a macrobiotic diet. “I’m clear,” Applegate said. “Absolutely 100 percent clear and clean. It did not spread. They got everything out, so I’m definitely not going to die from breast cancer.”

[From E! News]

E! doesn’t say if Applegate discusses what course of treatment she chose. I’m also curious when she found out she had cancer, and if she waited a bit to get a clearer prognosis before releasing a statement. No matter what this sounds like great news, and really serves as a reminder about the importance of diligent checkups from an early age.

Here’s Christina at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in January. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Christina Applegate has received an outpouring of support since last week when she announced that she has breast cancer. It sounds like her prognosis is good and it was caught early. Fellow survivor Suzanne Somers wrote Applegate an encouraging open letter that was published in People. Somers made headlines back in 2001 when she decided to treat her cancer without chemotherapy, instead using radiation, surgery, a treatment made with a fermented mistletoe extract.

Dear Christina,

Cancer is scary, and lonely. You can’t ask anyone to make decisions for you because it’s just too heavy. There is a lot of ‘rush to treatment,’ when what you really need is time to research and think about how you want to approach this. Take your time Christina, there is no rush. Take your time and think it through. Use your cancer to learn and grow and as a force to work for you. You might choose to take an alternative approach. There are more options than the ones presented to you in the oncologist’s office. You will make it. The success and drive you have had in your career will be the same strengths you will use to win over this nasty disease. And I am here if you want to talk to someone who was ‘there.’

Sincerely,
Suzanne Somers

[From People]

I always find it a little odd when someone chooses an open letter instead of writing – or speaking – to a person directly. But I would guess Christina isn’t really easy to get in touch with right now. And by writing her letter to People, Somers made others aware of some of the emotional issues of breast cancer. I like that she didn’t seem to force her views at all; she just simply pointed out that there are other treatments besides the traditional ones, and each person has to figure out what’s best for her. Somers appears to be in pretty good health, and certainly took a less-than-conventional route.

Here’s Christina shooting some beach scenes for her hit show “Samantha Who” in May. Images thanks to Fame. Header picture of Suzanne Somers from October 2005. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Christina Applegate has been diagnosed with an early stage of breast cancer, according to a statement put out by her representative. It sounds like it was caught early and that she should be fine after treatment. The 36 year-old actress has a family history of breast cancer. Her mother is a breast cancer survivor and underwent treatment and a mastectomy when Christina was a young girl. Christina is active with the Susan G Komen breast cancer foundation - my mother met her during a walk for the charity a few years ago - and it is likely that she goes for regular mammograms and checkups:

Christina Applegate has been diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer her rep confirmed Saturday.

“Benefitting from early detection through a doctor ordered MRI, the cancer is not life threatening,” the Emmy nominated Samantha Who? star’s rep said in a statement. “Christina is following the recommended treatment of her doctors and will have a full recovery.”

Applegate’s mother is a breast cancer survivor.

“The first time she was diagnosed I was a very young girl – probably 7. I’m not sure it really fully hit me at the time, but she had to undergo surgery and have a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery,” Applegate, 36, told USA Today in 2003.

“It was devastating for my mother to lose one of her breasts and have to go through all that,” Applegate said. “It is a very personal cancer for the women it affects. This is about women’s womanhood. It’s one of the aspects of our femininity.”

Breast cancer is currently the most common cancer in women and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the 15-54 age group.

[From US Weekly]

Actress Cynthia Nixon recently disclosed that she had breast cancer in 2006 and that it was detected early and she is now cancer free. Nixon’s mother is a two time breast cancer survivor and helped her realize the importance of early detection.

While looking for photos for this story I found some exclusives at Bauer Griffin which were taken May 13 and show Christina at an “outpatient cancer clinic” at Cedars Sinai, where they say she stayed for two hours. It’s possible that she chose to wait to announce her cancer, like Cynthia Nixon, until after treatment was successful.

In early July, Applegate lost her ex boyfriend of over two years. 26-year-old Lee Grivas was found dead in his apartment of an apparent heroin overdose on July 1. Applegate issued a statement at the time saying that she was “profoundly saddened” by his death. She is now thought to be dating a bass player who hails from Holland.

Applegate has gone through a lot this year, and our thoughts are with her for a quick recovery.

Christina Applegate is shown in the header on May 13 outside Cedars Sinai. Credit: JRI/JF2/bauergriffinonline.com. She is shown below at the “Over Her Dead Body” Los Angeles Premiere on 1/29/08. Credit: Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos

The cover of this week’s National Enquirer, which has more photos of the couple together
The National Enquirer has exclusive details and photos in its new issue about Christina Applegate’s new boyfriend, a talented bass player from Holland who happens to be missing one of his front teeth. Applegate recently lost her longterm on-off boyfriend, who died in an apparent heroin overdose just over a week ago. 26-year-old photographer Lee Grivas was found dead in his Hollywood apartment with a syringe nearby. Applegate and Grivas were said to have reunited briefly this spring, but Grivas suffered a relapse and they had been apart for about 6 weeks when he died.

Now Applegate, 36, has a new boyfriend, and although he’s normal looking before he opens his mouth it’s hard to get past that gap-toothed grin. 39 year-old Martyn Lenoble has played bass for top bands like Janes Addiction, Porno for Pyros and The Cult. He is said to be comforting her while she mourns the loss of Grivas. They were photographed together and seen holding hands and kissing:

[Christina Applegate] has found comfort in the arms of tattooed, gap-toothed rocker Martyn Lenoble.

The couple was spotted July 5 leaving her Hollywood Hills home in the morning, attending a gathering at a friend’s home, shopping at the Guitar Center music store, and kissing and holding hands.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, July 21, 2008]

I couldn’t find any photos of the guy online with his mouth open, but there’s a clear picture in the National Enquirer and he definitely has a huge tooth missing. It’s not exaggerated in that cover photo or anything. There’s plenty of praise online for his bass playing ability, and maybe he’s a great person and really attentive and everything.

It’s superficial sure, but I don’t think I could get past that guy’s mouth long enough to notice if he has a great personality. Do you think you could date a guy with a front tooth missing? It’s not like he just got punched out last week, the Enquirer has a photo of him from 2003 without the tooth so he’s probably never going to fix it. Maybe Applegate will talk him into some dental intervention.

The on-again, off-again boyfriend of Samantha Who actress Christina Applegate has been found dead in his apartment. 26-year-old Lee Grivas apparently died of a drug overdose, though official autopsy results haven’t been released yet. Applegate had been dating Grivas for over two years.

Some very sad news for Christina Applegate. E! News has confirmed that an investigation is under way into the circumstances surrounding the death of 26-year-old Lee Grivas, an aspiring photographer who had been dating the Samantha Who? star off and on for more than two years.

“I am profoundly saddened,” Applegate said in a statement to E! News. “Lee was an incredible human being who was an extremely important and beautiful part of my life. He is missed beyond words. He touched so many and I feel much sadness for his mother, brother and all of his family and friends.”

“We’re very happy with each other,” Grivas, told People in 2006. “I like making her smile and she likes making me smile. It’s really innocent and fun.”

[From E! News]

The National Enquirer says that Grivas’ body was found by his neighbor on Tuesday and he was pronounced dead early that evening. They have a little additional information on Grivas’ life and death.

Lee Grivas, was found dead of an apparent heroin overdose. Grivas — a fisherman, skateboarder and aspiring photographer — died July 1. A source close to Grivas told The National Enquirer: “Lee also had a long history of drug problems, dating back to his teen years. Christina broke up with him a number of times because of his struggles with getting clean. She loved him, but couldn’t stand by and watch him ruin his life.”

After the lovers reunited in April, Grivas left Christina in a last-ditch bid to get sober, according to the source. “Christina loved Lee dearly and even dreamed of starting a family with him,” the insider told The National Enquirer. “Unfortunately, Lee’s battle with drugs got the better of him. Christina is still in complete shock. He was just so young!”

[From the National Enquirer]

What an incredibly sad story. Our hearts go out to Lee’s friends and family.

Here are Christina Applegate and Lee Grivas leaving the Petrossian Paris Boutique & Cafe in Los Angeles while Christina hides under a black sweatshirt on April 23rd. Images thanks to WENN.

Christina Applegate recently told the sad story about how she was in an abusive relationship for three years as a young woman. When she had success in her early career as the ditsy blond Kelly Bundy on Married with Children, she was facing unbearable personal pain at home. She lived in fear of her first boyfriend, who would beat her in ways that left her personally shattered, but wouldn’t leave marks for others to see. She said she was “brainwashed” and desperate for help:

“I met what I thought was the most dynamic and sexy and wonderful, charming man that I’ve ever met in my entire life,” Christina told members of the Women’s Progress Alliance, a group headed by Nicole Simpson’s sister Denise brown.

“And from that moment on, for three years, I lived in fear for my life from the time that I woke up to the time I went to sleep.

“He had such a way of beating me that it wouldn’t leave any marks, because he knew everyone would know.”

Christina also told the women’s domestic violence group that she would hurt herself in a desperate cry for help, so people would notice her injuries. But then she wouldn’t have the courage to come forward with the truth.

“He basically brainwashed me,” she explained. “I almost lost my life.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, December 3, 2007]

When celebrities speak out about their personal problems, they literally help tens of thousands of people who are faced with similar difficult circumstances. Good for Applegate for getting out of that terrible situation and not continuing the cycle of abuse in her next relationship, and it’s very brave of her to talk about it. Applegate was later married to actor Johnathon Schaech, but they were separated in 2005 after about four years, and divorced two years later. They remain friends, with a recent story that they were making out at a club after they met there unexpectedly.

If you’re trapped in an abusive relationship, tell someone and get help. I realize it’s not that simple when you have kids and/or a lack of resources, but you owe it yourself and your kids to figure out a way to get out. Here are the signs of an abusive relationship.

Vegetarian Christina Applegate is the spokesperson in a sexy PETA campaign against fur titled “Fur: Get Me Not.” In an interview on the PETA website about her new ad she explains when she became a vegetarian, saying that she saw blood on a plate when she was eating on the Married with Children set. She said “I looked down and there was blood on my plate, and it was that realization, that I can’t eat something that has been alive, I just can’t do it. So I stopped, and that was it. That was the last time.” Maybe that same kind of realization helped her get out of that relationship around the same time. If you are in an abusive relationship, you can do it too.

Christina Applegate is shown on 11/18/07 at the American Music Awards, thanks to PRPhotos.

“Samantha Who?” star Christina Applegate made waves earlier in the week when a story came out that she was seen kissing her ex husband at a club. Christina and her ex, actor Johnathon Schaech, were divorced last year after five years of marriage and when they ran into each other they “just started making out”:

Applegate, 35, and Schaech, 38, ran into each other unexpectedly at L.A. hot spot Les Deux on Friday night – and ended up having a close encounter.

“They just made out all of a sudden,” an observer tells PEOPLE. “They didn’t really look around to see who was looking, it just happened, but it wasn’t that weird after. They just went along talking to friends and separated soon after and both kept partying.”

The flirty former couple were also seen holding hands, but they each ended the evening with their pals. Applegate, who stars in the new comedy series Samantha Who?, was hanging out with her girlfriends Eva Longoria and Sara Ramirez, while Schaech was with his actor friend Clifton Collins Jr.

[From People.com]

That’s not that shocking and comes off like a sitcom plot rather than something that would actually happen, but good for them. What’s slightly scandalous is the news that Applegate admitted that she was married to a woman before she made it legal with her ex husband in 2001. She said in an old interview with Bikini Magazine that over ten years ago she and her female friend got hitched in Vegas. She claimed that they “took [marriage] very seriously,” but that they did it to prove a point about marriage and that it wasn’t sexual. It couldn’t have been legal, because gay marriage and same sex unions are not legal in Nevada, but it sounds like they had a ceremony:

The Anchorman star has been exposed as a former lesbian thanks to a forgotten interview in little know Bikini magazine, where she talks openly about her same-sex romance a decade ago, before she wed now ex-husband Johnathon Schaech.

Applegate told the magazine she ‘wed’ a girlfriend in Las Vegas to “prove a point about the whole marriage thing, and how the bond between two women surpasses the bond between two men.”

She added, “We got married at a club one Vegas night, and we took it very seriously - rings, rice, the whole bit.”

But she insisted there was no sexual relationship. She told Bikini magazine, “We’re not like that. We’re like the two most heterosexual women who ever lived.”

[From ContactMusic via Fark]

Did she tell this story because she was afraid it would get out and she wanted to tell it her way? It could have happened like she claims, but it all sounds pretty suspect. Lance Bass was married in Vegas in 1999 to get free drinks, and it’s not out of the question for two people who are just friends to get drunk and stupid enough to get married. If they weren’t more than friends they must have been obliterated enough to think that getting married was a good idea. Since it apparently wasn’t legal, it’s not like they had to get it annulled or anything. I wonder if was weird for them the next day and if their “friendship” suffered as a result.

Christina Applegate is shown on 7/27/07 at the ABC All Star Party at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Thanks to Splash News.