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WebMD News Brief
Selma Blair Reports Multiple Sclerosis Remission
By Carolyn Crist
Aug. 17, 2021 -- Actress Selma Blair says she's now in remission after years of a serious multiple sclerosis flare, according to People.
Blair, 49, was diagnosed with the chronic immune disease in 2018. During a year of intense pain, she had a hard time speaking and couldn't fully use her left leg. She pursued an "aggressive" course of chemotherapy and had a stem cell transplant to try to restart her immune system, the magazine reported.
The process took time, but it worked, she said during a virtual appearance on Monday.
"My prognosis is great. I'm in remission. Stem cell put me in remission," she said during a discovery+ Television Critics Association panel in support of her upcoming documentary, Introducing Selma Blair, which premieres Oct. 15.
"It took about a year after stem cell for the inflammation and lesions to really go down," she said. "While I am in remission, there's still maintenance and treatments and glitches."
Blair said she's been doing well for the last few months but wanted to wait to share the news with the public.
"I was reluctant to talk about it because I felt this need to be more healed and more fixed," she said. "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."
The multiple sclerosis flare was tough, both physically and mentally, she said. She focused on her 10-year-old son, Arthur, during the treatment process.
"I was so burnt out," she said. "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."
Blair said she appreciates that her celebrity status has helped others who are struggling with a chronic illness. Earlier this month, she offered words of support to actress Christina Applegate, who co-starred with Blair in the 2002 comedy The Sweetest Thing and announced her own multiple sclerosis diagnosis last week.
"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," Blair said. "By 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 … then I'm thrilled to have this here."
Show Sources
People: "Selma Blair Is 'In Remission' from her Multiple Sclerosis: 'My Prognosis Is Great.'"
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