'I am disabled': Selma Blair reveals she has multiple sclerosis
Selma Blair has multiple sclerosis.
The actress shared on Instagram Saturday that she was diagnosed with the immune disease in August. The 46-year-old was inspired to share her health update by the kindness of costumer Allisa Swanson on the Netflix show they’re currently working on, Another Life. Blair wrote that Swanson “carefully gets my legs in my pants, pulls my tops over my head, buttons my coats and offers her shoulder to steady myself,” Blair wrote. “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.”
Blair, who said she was encouraged by fellow actress Elizabeth Berkley to see her brother, Jason Berkley, MD, apparently had MS symptoms for years and says she probably “had this incurable disease for 15 years at least.”
After finding lesions, which are typically found on the spinal cord or in the brain, she’s “been in the thick of it.” However, Blair says she hopes “to give some hope to others. And even to myself. … I want to play with my son again. I want to walk down the street and ride my horse.”
Blair said that she’s “OK” but added that “if you see me dropping crap all over the street, feel free to help me pick it up. It takes a whole day for me alone. Thank you and may we all know good days amongst the challenges.”
She also thanked some of her friends for their support, including Jaime King, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Freddie Prinze Jr.
According to the Mayo Clinic, the immune system of those who have MS attacks the myelin (a protective sheath that covers nerve fibers), which then causes communication problems between the brain and the rest of the body. The disease can cause permanent damage to nerves. According to a 2016 National Institute of Health study, approximately 400,000 people in the United States have MS. Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Jack Osbourne, Ann Romney and Montel Williams are among those affected.
In May, Blair, who has a 7-year-old son with her ex-boyfriend Jason Bleick admitted that she has “battled alcoholism and depression and anxiety” for years. In 2016, she had a breakdown on a flight that she said was a “total psychotic blackout” caused by an inadvertent combination of wine and a pill someone gave to her.
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