Working through her diagnosis. In the years since Selma Blair found out she had multiple sclerosis, the actress has been candid about navigating her new normal.
The Michigan native rose to fame starring in hit movies, including Cruel Intentions, Legally Blonde and After. Amid her notable Hollywood career, she announced in October 2018 that she had been diagnosed with MS.
“I was in this wardrobe fitting two days ago. And I am in the deepest gratitude. So profound, it is, I have decided to share,” Blair wrote in an October 2018 Instagram post at the time. “The brilliant costumer #Allisaswanson not only designs the pieces #harperglass will wear on this new #Netflix show, but she carefully gets my legs in my pants, pulls my tops over my head, buttons my coats and offers her shoulder to steady myself. I have #multiplesclerosis.”
She continued at the time: “I am in an exacerbation. By the grace of the lord, and will power and the understanding producers at Netflix, I have a job. A wonderful job. I am disabled. I fall sometimes. I drop things. My memory is foggy. And my left side is asking for directions from a broken gps. But we are doing it. And I laugh and I don’t know exactly what I will do precisely but I will do my best.”
Through the years, Blair — who shares son Arthur with ex Jason Bleick — has been candid about her health challenges, even starring in a documentary about her diagnosis, Introducing, Selma Blair.
“We have a long time to be dead and I spent so long trying to kill myself, or numb myself, or check out — or figure out how to be alive by being half dead,” the American Crime Story alum said in the documentary, which premiered in March 2021. “And now I just want to help other people feel better.”
As Blair navigated her MS battle, she decided to sign up for Dancing With the Stars season 31.
“Once I actually stood with Sasha [Farber, my DWTS partner] and really realized, like, ‘Oh, he can help me in general,’” she told Us Weekly in September 2022 ahead of the Disney+ premiere. “[I’m] so excited for camaraderie, for support [from] people. I did not realize how much I missed that and … there were terror and nerves [because] I don’t have experience dancing, like, with steps, I can pose like a dancer for maybe two seconds.”
She added: “Once I decided [to join the show] and convinced my team that I could do this [and] that it wasn’t gonna be too dangerous for me that I could do this [because] we do these things we wanna find joy in and then I’m all in.”
Before her official DWTS debut, Blair attended the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards in September 2022. Walking onto the stage with her cane to present the final award of the night, Outstanding Drama Series, she was met with a standing ovation from the crowd.
Scroll below to revisit everything the Sweetest Thing star has said about her health challenges through the years:
October 2018
While sharing behind-the-scenes set photos in October, Blair confirmed her diagnosis.
“I am in an exacerbation,” she wrote via Instagram at the time, noting her symptoms had been worsening. “I am disabled. I fall sometimes. I drop things. My memory is foggy. And my left side is asking for directions from a broken gps. But we are doing it. And I laugh and I don’t know exactly what I will do precisely but I will do my best.”
March 2019
Amid her MS, Blair got candid about remembering life’s blessings each day.
“All we have is right now. This. Is the past. But I remember knowing to just feel the warmth in the breeze. The gift of this trip,” she wrote via Instagram. “My son is asleep next to me. I hear his breathing. That of a tender soul, a young boy who will wake full of energy. I am going to curl up next to him. Cause that is what this wonderful life can bring. The now. The now I love. So… goodnight.”
May 2019
“Here’s a truth. I feel sick as all hell,” Blair captioned an Instagram photo of herself. “I am vomiting and all the things which are not polite to speak of. My son ran away. From me. I have to get him to school. The medical treatments take their toll. I am going to get through this. We do. This will pass. … I cannot imagine ever feeling OK again. #roughday. We get through. #realitycheck.”
October 2021
“I am in a lot of pain; I am well,” she told Variety. “I said I was in remission, and I want to give that its due for the stem cell transplant, because nothing was taking down the flare. It absolutely put me in remission, which means no new lesions have formed since my HSCT.”
She continued: “You go into it thinking, ‘Oh, it’s going to be a cure.’ But what is cure? It did what he said. It’s just a period of acceptance that I’m changed. And that’s fine; I’m lucky. It’s softened my edges, and the neurological damage I have, it’s been a gift because it’s really softened me and created a lot more compassion for myself and others. Which is always useful.”
April 2021
Blair has even found frequent solace in putting on makeup throughout her MS journey.
“I’ve been made up by some of the most famous makeup artists since I started acting, and I’ve felt so transformed by their makeup that I really did become a different person,” she recalled to Town & Country in an April interview. “It was a superpower to me, and I mean this. Makeup is not trivial to me. If anything moves the needle for me in my life — even before my diagnosis or challenges — it is my gorgeous war paint.”
She added: “I don’t mind if my muscles get caught at the intersection of a slow brain signal. I just want those words to come from lips covered in Chanel gloss,” she shares with the outlet.
September 2022
“I lose my speech under hot lights, under sun, like, just getting a coffee, getting out the car will be very different than if I’m in a car seat with my knees up, I can talk clear,” the Anger Management alum explained to Us in September 2022. “There’s just so many interesting things I realize and patterns that I don’t think people know, even when they have friends with MS, like, how this triggers. …I’m just a little more dramatic about it.”
September 2022
“There’s no way I could have [been on DWTS two years ago]. like, my balance was so in a process of healing,” Blair told Us in September 2022. “I did not have any confidence that I could even last a half a dance. You know, I just, that was just didn’t seem like possible. And now it does seem possible.”
While Blair initially thought she was “not the girl for this show” due to cranky mood swings and an inability to support herself, things have shifted going into season 31. “I’m just a very different person and I couldn’t ask for a bigger miracle to help bring me out of something, whatever that is. I hope I get a chance to really learn and grow,” she added.
Farber, for his part, noted how Blair is already learning to control her body better after just a few rehearsals. “It’s not just a dance show for me. I want Selma to walk out of this with so much more,” he explained at the time.
September 2022
During the premiere episode of DWTS in September 2022, Blair brought both the audience and the judges to tears with her first performance with Sasha Farber. The pair, who danced the Viennese Waltz to “Time of Your Life” by David Cook, celebrated making it to the next round as Blair herself began crying about the “lovely” experience.
“I’ve never danced, and this was a dream come true,” she said amid tears. “This was a dream come true and … it was wonderful, thank you so much.”
October 2022
After fainting at a DWTS rehearsal with dance partner Farber, Blair admitted there is an “added layer” to the dance competition experience having multiple sclerosis.
“The thing is, I pass out a lot,” the After star revealed to Entertainment Tonight. “It’s part of the reason I have [my service dog] Scout and it doesn’t mean I lose consciousness [or] it’s a whole ambulance experience, it’s something that I lose my vision, gravity pulls me down and I’m very disoriented and gone for a spell. He’s kind of there to also catch me, you know, make the ground a little closer with his back.”
Blair added that it’s “just something that I have to be honest with,” but that once she gets calm breathing and moving again, she feels “totally at home” dancing with Farber
October 2022
Blair voluntarily left DWTS in week 5 after a doctor suggested that she ease up during rehearsals. “I didn’t want to leave,” she told Us after the episode. “I had an MRI on my knee, and the doctor was like, ‘Ugh, if you can choreograph it in the pool or do something, you know, not weight-bearing.'” After she decided to leave, though, she told Farber that she wanted to do “one last gentle dance” with him.
“I was sick for so many years. I was searching and searching for how to help myself,” she recalled in a pre-taped package, noting that she wondered why she couldn’t be a more active mother when her son was younger. “I just thought, ‘Oh, I’m a failure as a mom,’” she said, adding that receiving her MS diagnosis was “a huge relief” and “the beginning of recovery as a person.”
After her final performance, Blair told the judges and her fellow contestants that she was “honored” to be in the ballroom with them. “This competition has shown me how much I love to be with people who are trying their hardest,” she said. “How much I love being around music even though I don’t have musicality.”
October 2023
Blair joined President Joe Biden at the White House to celebrate laws protecting disabled Americans — the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.
“Although I’d had symptoms since the age of 7, it took a lifetime of self-advocacy to finally lead me to a diagnosis at age 46, after living most of my life in pain and self-doubt,” she said.
During her speech at the ceremony, Blair called herself a “proud disabled woman.” She also pointed to activist Judy Heumann, who died in March at age 75, as someone who taught Blair her “worth.”
“The push towards equity continues,” Blair said. “Our laws and policies must reflect that our disabled lives are not of lesser value.”
November 2023
Blair told Glamour she was ready to get back into the dating scene amid her battle with multiple sclerosis. The actress noted that being in love isn’t something to “take lightly” — it “colors everything” she said — but believes the right person will come into her life “one day.”
“I think I deserve it and think I’m in a great place to show up as the best version of me,” she said. “It’s the first time I have hope. And I could have never said that in my life before.”
Blair also recalled meeting a man at a friend’s birthday dinner that “inspired” her to see herself differently — although the twosome didn’t exchange numbers. “Something in this person inspired me to see myself differently by the way he looked at the world,” she continued. “Just from that brief meeting, I thought, I have something I didn’t know I did.”
She added that there are obstacles when it comes to romance. “I think the ‘disability’ word … it just confuses people,” she said, joking, “Like, as if I don’t have a vagina.”