Christina Applegate: 'Mum inspired me in cancer fight'

Actress Christina Applegate knew she would survive breast cancer - because she watched her own mother battle with the disease for years.

The 36-year-old star underwent a double mastectomy following her diagnosis with the deadly illness last month - leaving her "clear" of any tumours and she insists her mother Nancy - a two-time breast cancer survivor - was her saviour throughout the battle.

She says, "I watched (my mother) have a mastectomy, and then I watched her go through two years of chemotherapy and eight surgeries and a hysterectomy. I've watched this woman survive... so for me there was always that sense I was going to be okay, no matter what.

"I really love living and I really love my life and I knew from this moment on there was only going to be good that was going to be coming.

"Yeah, I'm going to face challenges, but you can't get any darker than where I've been. So just knowing that in my soul gave me the strength to just say I have to get out there and make this a positive."

The Anchorman star also shows she hasn't lost her infamous sense of humour, adding: "(Humour) is everything. Even in the hospital, there was so much laughter that was happening. And actually, it was sometimes good and sometimes not-so-good, because it can actually be painful to laugh that hard. But I've laughed so much in the last three weeks.

"Sometimes, you know, I cry and sometimes I scream and I get really angry, and I get into wallowing in self-pity sometimes. I think it's all part of healing. And anyone who's going through it out there: it's okay to cry, it's okay to fall on the ground and just scream if you want to. It's okay."