Sarah Michelle Gellar Says Cruel Intentions Costar Selma Blair 'Won't Let MS Diagnosis Define Her'
Sarah Michelle Gellar is showing some support for her longtime pal Selma Blair.
Following an emotional week where Blair made her first public appearance and did her first television interview since revealing she had multiple sclerosis, Gellar wrote a touching tribute to her Cruel Intentions costar on Instagram.
Speaking to Blair’s busy week at the Oscars and Good Morning America, Gellar, 41, said she was immensely proud of her friend for how she has responded to the difficult circumstances.
“This is my dear friend @selmablair,” she began in the post on Monday. “Last night she stood on the world stage for the first time, since being diagnosed with MS. And later this week, she is taking an even bigger step, and speaking publicly on @goodmorningamerica (with, my girl crush @robinrobertsgma )”
“To say I’m proud, would be a gross understatement,” she continued. “When I have a cold, I want to hide from the world under my covers. But not Selma. She is facing this diagnosis, the way she faces everything, with dignity, grace and head on.”
“I know the support and encouragement that she has received on this platform has truly been a source of strength for her,” Gellar finished. “This is not an easy journey, but Selma will not let this define her. I love you James.”
In response to the sweet message, Blair, 46, sent affection back to her pal. “I love you so dearly.”
This is not the first time that Gellar has shown support for her Cruel Intentions costar.
After revealing in October 2018 that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Gellar sweetly wrote to Blair, “I love you, I’m proud of you, and there is nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”
On Sunday, Blair made her first public appearance at the Oscars since revealing her MS diagnosis.
The actress appeared at the Vanity Fair Oscars Party in Beverly Hills wearing a pink, mint green, ice blue, and black dress while carrying a custom cane to support her movement.
“This is love,” she wrote on Instagram of her cane, personalized with her own monogram. “How did I get so lucky?”
“I wanted a special cane for #vanityfair dinner,” she continued. “So… @lyon_heartedwent out and found patent leather and @bic_owen and he stitched it on. Hours of love put in. And then #tombachick made it especially magical. I burst into tears. These gifts to get me through. #subtle #chic #love. I can’t thank these three enough. There are angels.”
Two days later, the actress appeared on Good Morning America, where she spoke to Robin Roberts about her health and revealed that she was in the midst of a flare-up, and was experiencing spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological disorder which affected her voice.
“I am doing very well,” said Blair, 46. “I am very happy to see you. Being able to just put out what being in the middle of an aggressive form of multiple sclerosis is like. So my speech, I have spasmodic dysphonia right now. … It is interesting to be here to say this is what my particular case looks like right now.”
Opening up about first receiving the diagnosis after seeking out numerous doctors, Blair said she “cried.”
“I had tears,” she explained. “They weren’t tears of panic, they were tears of knowing that I now had to give in to a body that had loss of control and there was some relief in that.”
Blair also recalled the interaction she had with her 7-year-old son Arthur after telling him the news, who asked if it would kill her, and explained how she sought out advice from Michael J. Fox, who has lived with Parkinson’s disease in the public eye for decades.
“I said, ‘I don’t know who to tell, I’m dropping things, I’m doing strange things.’ … he got in touch with me… but like really he gives me hope,” she said.
Though Blair was initially “scared of talking,” she was hopeful that her appearance brings awareness to the disease. And because her doctor said she could regain 90 percent of her abilities within the next year, Blair hoped to reunite with Roberts in 2020 to measure her progress.
Joked the smiling star to Good Morning America, “No one has the energy to talk when they’re in a flare-up, but I do because I love a camera.”
