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Two years ago, Christina Applegate discovered she had breast cancer. The comedy actress reveals how she ‘pushed through’ the illness and insists her title character in sitcom Samantha Who? is finally realising what – and who – she really wants

How are you feeling?

I actually have the flu. So I’m very sorry if I’m hacking. Make sure you wash your hands after you leave this room. Believe me, you don’t want this. Not fun.

After two seasons, what has Samantha learnt?

The first season explored the idea of someone who has a past that’s erased trying to find out who she really is now. Our past and our experiences are so much of who we are, and we bring them with us wherever we go. Samantha is two years old. She’s had enough experiences to see what her interests are on the surface level, but on a deeper level – like how she feels about love and what kind of love, friendship and career she wants – all of those things happen in the second season. But I think there are parts of her that are now becoming a little jaded too, which happens in life.

Do you envy her position, in that she can basically reinvent herself?

It’s almost like the American dream. Right. You get to say “I wasn’t there” and get away with a lot!

Do you think everybody would like this kind of chance, or do you think we can reinvent ourselves whenever we want?

Every day is a new day. You know, scientists say you shed your skin that day, so you’re literally brand new every day. You have the opportunity to change your life right now because the past is gone and the future doesn’t exist – it’s only what we have right now that’s tangible. But I don’t think I’d want to be someone with retrograde amnesia because that’s a very frightening place to be.

What’s happening in Samantha’s love life? Is Todd still in the picture?

During the second season there’s a lot of love life going on in all different directions. That’s part of trying to figure out who she is and who she wants, not who’s best for her because of what someone else says. Todd is always a part of it. Todd is her comfort and I think now they’ve had a lot of time being really close as friends. We’ll see what happens.

Do you try to live each day as it comes, rather than focus on the past or the future?

I strive for that. Obviously the past creeps its ugly head up every once in a while. There’s nothing we can really do about it. It kind of defines who we are, but I try not to live like that.

Do you improvise a lot on the set, or do you pretty much stick to the script?

It depends who wrote it that week and how finicky they are. When (series co-creator and occasional writer) Don Todd is there, there’s a lot more freedom to improvise or change stuff. Not that the others don’t, but you don’t want to step on them because that’s their work. We try to stick to the script and do a couple of takes that are really on point, the way that they want it, and then they allow us to do what we want. In the end, some stuff makes it in and some stuff doesn’t work.

Do you ever crack up in the middle of a scene?

I usually don’t. I try to stay as professional as I possibly can, but sometimes you can’t help it. Melissa McCarthy is a very funny person and there are things that she does that tickle me. So I’ve definitely been known to lose it a little bit and ruin her takes. I try not to though.

What’s been your favourite episode to shoot?

I think for me, the most enjoyable show was the flashback episode. We got to explore back then and see that Samantha isn’t just all bad, that there’s just part of her that’s deeply hurt and that’s why she’s so mean to Todd. That episode revealed so much.

Is it fun to play mean?

Definitely! Samantha gets away with so much because of her confidence and the way she looks and carries herself. It’s a very relaxing place to be – I feel more relaxed when I’m playing bad Sam, as opposed to good Sam or new Sam, who’s like a child trying to figure things out and making so many mistakes. But it’s all fun.

As a breast cancer survivor, do you feel you can be an inspiration to other women?

Sometimes I have to inspire myself too, which can be hard. But sometimes things like this happen. I don’t believe that things happen for a reason, and I don’t believe in a God that would punish you and then make you have to deal with that. With what happened to me, there were two choices I could make. I could either succumb to it or I could help people. And that’s what I chose. We needed a younger face to a disease that is mostly something you only think of our mothers or grandmothers getting, and that’s not the case.

What did you learn about yourself in the last year?

I’ve always been a push-through kind of person. That’s just my nature. I don’t know if that’s good most the time, it’s probably why I’m coughing and sick. I broke my foot a couple of years ago on Broadway, but I never think that anything is going to take me down. It was just natural for me to push through and continue working, doing what I love to do.

Your mother (actress Nancy Priddy) has also survived breast cancer. How important has your relationship with her been during this time?

She’s been wonderful. When you go through this, the people that you need around you the most are the ones who have been through it. And as much as everybody else in my life has been fantastic, they’ll never get what it feels like.

Samantha Who? features on Fox Series every Saturday