Christina Applegate says “Married... With Children” dad Ed O’Neill 'raised' her: 'It’s his fault'

The duo spent 11 seasons as father and daughter Al and Kelly Bundy on the sitcom.

Christina Applegate has a very typical relationship with her TV dad Ed O’Neill: she blames him for both the best and worst parts of herself.

On the latest episode of her MeSsy podcast with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Applegate welcomed her Married… With Children co-star for a sweet stroll down memory lane. Together, they reminisced about their time on the hit sitcom and their relationship's evolution since its 1997 cancellation.

“I don’t even know how to explain this person,” Applegate began. “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.”

She added, “Years and years of my life spent with this man and he’s an incredible actor. He’s an incredible human being.”

Related: Married...With Children cast: Where are they now?

While the duo confirmed that they were close during the shoot, Applegate expressed joy over the way their bond has matured.

“I love our relationship now, Eddie,” she said. “Like, our relationship now of me being 52 years old and the fact that you and I can talk on the phone for hours and giggle and talk about everything. Like, we talk a lot. I talk to you more than I talk to anyone else on the telephone. I really do. ‘Cause I hate talking on the telephone but I’ll get on with him.”

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When asked by Sigler, O’Neill had only positive memories of working alongside Applegate.

“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.”

Applegate jumped in to say that she was going through a lot in her teenage years, including the aftermath of her mother’s cancer diagnosis and struggles with an eating disorder, which often led her to isolate from her castmates.

“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.”

But, she added, O’Neill was present when she needed him. “He went through everything with me,” she said. “My mom’s cancer and other things.”

Related: Christina Applegate has Married… With Children reunion in first public appearance since MS diagnosis

Married… With Children, a hit for Fox, starred a 15-year-old Applegate as Kelly Bundy, the superficial teen daughter of O’Neill’s Al and Katey Sagal's Peggy. David Faustino completed the family unit as the smart-aleck son, Bud. The series, which followed a dysfunctional family in the Chicago suburbs, remains one of the longest-running sitcoms in America, clocking in at 11 seasons with 259 episodes.

All these years later, Applegate said that not only does the Bundy family still keep in touch, but in some ways, she feels closer to them than ever.

“Not a lot of time goes by without someone checking in with someone,” she shared. “Eddie and I, like I said, he and I are the only ones that talk on the phone all the time. Katey has come over and laid in bed with me. You know, Dave, I see Dave a lot. Our kids went to the same school for a bit.”

Speaking directly to O’Neill, she continued, “Like you're my family. You really are my family. And coming from like, being a little kid and growing up from being 15 to 24 years old with these people, you hold a huge part of my heart. I hold you to a higher esteem than I do anybody else.”

You can hear Applegate's full conversation with O'Neill in the podcast above.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.