Selma Blair rose to fame in the early 2000s after she starred in Cruel Intentions alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar – but she hasn’t had an easy ride since then.
The gorgeous actress went on to become a household name after starring in the Hellboy franchise and was a regular on the silver screen.
However, away from her Hollywood lifestyle, Selma has dealt with some major ailments in her personal life and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
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She revealed her diagnosis back in 2018 and has since been open about her struggle and her “alcoholic” youth.
Childhood
(Image: Henry Lamb/BEI/REX/Shutterstock)
Before her MS diagnosis, Blair battled with her health as a child after she began drinking.
In her memoir Mean Baby, Selma admitted that she got drunk for the first time at the age of seven and said: “I don’t know if I would have survived childhood without alcoholism.”
Blair said that it became “a comfort, a coping mechanism” and detailed that first night of drinking.
“I got drunk that night. Very drunk. Eventually, I was put in my sister Katie’s bed with her. In the morning, I didn’t remember how I’d gotten there.”
From then on she took sips of alcohol to combat her anxiety and “became an expert alcoholic” before she’d even reached her teens.
Symptoms
(Image: Suzanne Cordeiro/REX/Shutterstock)
In an interview with Town and Country, Blair explained that one MS symptom in particular made her realise that there was a problem.
Selma lost sensation in one of her legs as she was preparing to walk in New York Fashion Week, something that had happened before – but this time Blair noticed a difference.
She said: “It was on that runway, with the thrill of walking in the show, that I suddenly lost feeling in my left leg, but I was on a runway and thinking: ‘What do I do?’
“When I first stepped out, I couldn’t feel the ground or how to lift my left leg. My brain was trying to compute as I walked the runway, stunned.”
Diagnosis
(Image: David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock)
Six months later, Selma received the news that she had multiple sclerosis.
The progressive illness affects the central nervous system and interrupts communication from the brain to other body parts, causing side effects such as difficulty walking, dizziness, seizures and limb numbness.
Blair had been suffering with the symptoms for years before a doctor found lesions on her brain after an MRI scan.
Selma broke the news to her fans via Instagram and announced that she is “disabled, falls sometimes, drops things and her brain is foggy”.
She even used the analogy that her “left side is asking for directions from a broken GPS”.
Life with MS
(Image: Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock)
In February 2019, Selma attended the Vanity Fair Oscars party using a cane and told Town & Country that “it was a no-brainer” and she had “no choice”.
Blair made a statement and walked the carpet with her cane, which had been monogrammed with polish and gems by her nail technician.
Selma said that “people might be watching” and she “didn’t know if she would be forgotten about”.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
