Though the actor's been doing well for a while now, she thought of waiting before sharing the news "because I felt this need to be more healed and more fixed," she said.
Selma Blair was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, an autoimmune disease back in 2018. The condition left the Cruel Intentions actor in immense pain and caused physical struggles, according to BBC.
Blair had difficulty speaking and lost the ability to use her left leg completely, reports PEOPLE, forcing the 49-year-old actress to opt for a stem cell transplant and an "aggressive" course of chemotherapy to restart her immune system. Though it took time, it helped her immensely, revealed Blair, when she appeared virtually at the discovery+ TCA panel in support of her upcoming documentary Introducing Selma Blair.
But now, after spending years in pain, the Legally Blonde star says she's finally in remission!
"My prognosis is great. I'm in remission. Stem cell put me in remission," Blair said. "It took about a year after stem cell for the inflammation and lesions to really go down." Though Blair's been doing well for the past few months, she decided to wait before sharing the news publicly.
"I was reluctant to talk about it because I felt this need to be more healed and more fixed," she said.
Her hesitation to talk about remission was not because she was worried about sharing the news with her fans; it was more to do with her taking the time to accept the fact that she got lucky. "I've accrued a lifetime of some baggage in the brain that still needs a little sorting out or accepting. That took me a minute to get to that acceptance. It doesn't look like this for everyone."
Blair added that her diagnosis was very tough on her, both physically and mentally, and she found the strength to go through each day by focusing on her 10-year-old son Arthur. "This is it. The only life we get," she said, per PEOPLE. "My disease isn't a tragedy, but I tell myself, 'You're going to live in a way that would be an example for yourself and your son.'"
"It's not that MS was on a path killing me. I mean it was killing me with this flare lasting so long," she said. "I was so burnt out. If there was an option to halt me, to rebalance after being hit so hard with that last flare, it's absolutely for my son. I have no desire to leave him alone right now."
Here's the thing, it can get very lonely for people with MS diagnosis, but for Blair, she was lucky enough to have her family and friends supporting her, and that honestly changed the way she approached life.
"People took great care of me. I never really like life. I do now — strange, huh?" she said. "Just because life's so weird. I was so scared in life. To suddenly start to find an identity and a safety in me, to figure out boundaries, time management, and energy. I'm having the time of my life."
Now, Blair—talking about Introducing Selma Blair—says she's glad she's got a platform to share her story, adding that it is because of her stardom that she was able to reach out to others in her situation. "To hear even just me showing up with a cane or sharing something that might be embarrassing, it was a key for a lot of people in finding comfort in themselves and that means everything to me," she said.
"I'm thrilled that I have some platform. In no means am I saying that I'm speaking for all people in this condition or any condition of chronic illness, I'm speaking my story and if that helps normalize one thing to open the door for other people to be comfortable in telling their stories. I'm thrilled to have this here."
References:
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-58240917
https://people.com/movies/selma-blair-documentary-trailer-follows-actress-ms-diagnosis/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Dia Dipasupil
