Legally Blonde star Selma Blair reveals why she was 'thrilled' to receive her MS diagnosis

Bang Showbiz on May 1, 2025

Published in Women

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Selma Blair was "thrilled" to receive her MS diagnosis.

The 52-year-old actress found out that she was suffering from multiple sclerosis - a condition that can affect the brain and spinal cord - in 2018 and insisted that the news only made her feel better about herself.

She told People: "[I was] thrilled. It's so funny. I felt like people thought it had to be some tragic thing, but I was like, 'No, you don't understand.

"I was feeling tragic inside before, and thinking this is just all psychosomatic and how can I change myself?"

The 'Legally Blonde' star - who has 13-year-old son Arthur with her former partner Jason Bleick - would wonder before her diagnosis what was "wrong" with her and how other people seemed to manage in a day-to-day life.

She said: "How do they do that? How do they feel that way? How does that mom carry her baby and stay awake?

"I just did not understand how I was so different from people, but yet totally kind of fine-ish

"I finally just felt seen. I kind of joke like, wait, there's receipts. This validates this vision here, this validates this or this or this, that people wouldn't really see because with relapsing MS, it can go away. It can relapse."

Just days ago, the 'Cruel Intentions' actress confirmed that she was "truly in remission" following her MS battle and had come to terms with being able to leave the house as she is "finally well enough" to do so now.

She said: "I am doing amazingly well. I've been feeling great for about a year. But I am finally well enough to really, genuinely ... I always try and feel my best, but now that I actually have stamina and energy and getting out and going out isn't so scary."

Selma has actually been in remission since 2021, and the actress previously explained that she was feeling "really great", despite the challenges of living with multiple sclerosis.

She told People in 2023: "Everything's great. I am still in remission.

"I do have things that will probably always be with me, dystonia and things that come and go that are a real phenomenon. But neurology is an interesting thing and it's fascinating to me."

Multiple sclerosis causes involuntary muscle contractions, and Selema acknowledged that the disease had changed her life.

Despite this, the movie star insisted at the time that she was still feeling "really happy".

She said: "I do get tired, That's the thing. It is hard.

"So we do have to remember to build in a rest day … because if mama goes down then we're down for a minute. But when I'm up, I'm doing it and I'm happy. I'm really happy."