Christina Applegate lost inhibitions with birth

Christina Applegate was so overcome with emotion at giving birth she lost all her inhibitions.

The 39-year-old actress and fiance Martyn LeNoble welcomed daughter Sadie Grace into the world on January 27 and Christina - who underwent a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 - didn't think twice about removing her gown to lay the baby on her chest to bond.

She explained: "I dropped my gown, which I don't do. This part of my body is very private to me. That's a real private place. A place that I don't have a good relationship with, let's say.

"But at that moment of pulling Sadie out, I just tore that thing off. There's a room full of people that I don't know. Nurses and doctors. And she and I just laid there. It was the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Despite her joy at giving birth to her first child, the 'Samantha Who?' star admitted it wasn't all plain sailing as she was in labour for 18 hours and had problems with the epidural, an injection which causes a lack of sensation and feelings of pain.

She explained to US TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres: "I didn't like it. I didn't like the feeling of numbness. It was really creepy to me. It was too much, so we turned it off and we opted to go all the way. Feeling it all. It was profound pain.

"It was about 18 hours. I had my plan. Plans are a big joke, you know."