“I Had To Give Into A Body That Had Loss Of Control”: Selma Blair On Her MS Diagnosis
"No-one has the energy to talk when they're in a flare-up," Blair explains. "But I do, because I love a camera."
In October 2018, Selma Blair took to Instagram to reveal that she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.
“I am disabled,” the star of Cruel Intentions and Hellboy wrote. “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.”
Now, Blair has discussed MS, her daily routine and her plans for the future in an honest and wide-reaching interview with Good Morning America, released shortly after a photograph of the actress with a customised cane at an Oscars after-party went viral.
Until I saw it, I didn’t know how much I needed this photo of Selma Blair at the Vanity Fair Oscar party last night: beauty, pain, glamor, real life—all in a single portrait. pic.twitter.com/YYHTmkdBIk
— Jennifer Brea (@jenbrea) February 25, 2019
Blair begins the interview by stressing that she felt it was important to show the world an example of a range of the symptoms experienced by someone in the midst of an MS flare-up. “It is interesting to put it out there,” Blair says. “To be here; to say this is what my particular case looks like right now.”
From there, she explains her personal journey to diagnosis. For many years, she believed that she was suffering from a pinched nerve. Though she visited the doctors regularly, they would often refuse to treat her seriously, attempting to convince her that she was simply an overworked single mother.
For that reason, when the diagnosis came, Blair felt a degree of relief. “I cried,” she explains. “I had tears … they weren’t tears of panic, they were tears of knowing I know had to give into a body that had loss of control. There was some relief in that. Ever since my son was born, I was in an MS flare-up and didn’t know.
“And I was giving everything to seem normal. And I was self-medicating when he wasn’t with me. I was drinking, I was in pain … I was really struggling with, ‘How am I going to get by in life?'”
Journalists
Just so we’re clear, Selma Blair didn’t “overcome” her disability. She is there unabashedly living with her MS.
AND THAT is why it matters so much.
— Crutches&Spice♿️ (@Imani_Barbarin) February 25, 2019
Blair is hopeful for the future — her doctor has explained that, within a year, she could have 90% of her abilities back.
But more than anything, she is proud of her decision to appear in front of the camera; to be herself, truly. “I was a little scared of talking,” Blair explains. “No-one has the energy to talk when they’re in a flare-up. But I do, because I love a camera.”