Selma Blair Talks About Life With MS Remission and What a Doctor Advised Her
Back in 2018, Selma Blair announced her battle with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Recently, the actor spoke about her health, her remission, and how people often don’t understand her pain. Here’s what the actress had to say.
In 2018, Selma Blair (51) was diagnosed with MS, an autoimmune disease in the central nervous system condition where the nerves become damaged, affecting the electrical signals in the brain. However, in 2021, folks were happy to know that the actress had entered remission.
In a recent interview with talk show host Kristen Welker, Blair admitted that she was “doing better every day,” but she’s still in pain. She revealed, “I’m in pain every day. Every day. I have dystonia, also, that really doesn’t always flare up for entire conversations, but it’s almost like someone with a stutter maybe, or a type of Tourette’s,”
The Cruel Intentions actress also added that “things go in and out. People don’t always understand that,” meaning that she is not 100% okay at all times.
“So there can be a lot of discrimination and confusion I think with people thinking I’m putting something on,” she continued. “And then I have a dog, and ‘I just want a dog with me.’ So there’s a lot of tricky stuff. But the real fact is I really am in pain all the time.” She further added there’s “no amount of Botox I could get in my back and muscles or massage or anything that’ll reach it,” when talking about the pain.
While hearing all of this hard, what Blair had to say next is probably even harder to process. The 51-year-old star disclosed that a doctor once suggested that she “get a boyfriend” when she went for help to deal with the pain.
In response to the suggestion, Blair admitted that she cried. She added, “I had no capability to process. ‘What am I supposed to do with this information?’ I knew the pain was real. I thought it was. But I did start to convince myself, ‘You’re overly sensitive. There’s nothing wrong with you. Get it together, you lazy, lazy whatever.’”
The actress also took this moment to also address the gender bias in healthcare. “And it was a gender bias, a lot of it, because there would be a boy in my grade that would go in for the exact same chronic headache and fever, and he is in surgery and an MRI within the week,” she stated, especially because she was never offered an MRI despite her fever, headaches, and balance issues.
She added, “I think primarily when I was young….they were all older male doctors who probably did not know the intricacies of a girl and that everything does not need to be blamed on menstruation.”
On a lighter note, Blair admitted that she has just started to feel “ready for romance,” but her diagnosis poses a challenge when dating. She commented, “What [being in love] does for your spirit — it’s nothing to take lightly.”
Well, we hope the star finds love because she truly deserves it all!
