Selma Blair on aging, her health during MS remission
Selma Blair gets candid about what it's like to be in remission for multiple sclerosis — and the pain that comes with growing older.
“I was hurting all the time,” Blair, 51, said in an interview Instagram video on Monday January 29. “I only say that for you people, it hurts too. Like I understand.”
The Legally blonde The actress went on to say that growing older in general “hurts” for everyone.
“You have to stretch,” she explained, adding that it's “hard for her to stretch” because of Ehlers-Danlos. “The Ehlers-Danlos will make me very stiff because I strain my muscles too easily. So I get some injuries, but it's nothing that's horrible, scary or anything like that. It's like one of those extra things that becomes a chronic thing that you have to pay attention to.
(According to the Mayo ClinicEhlers-Danlos is a group of hereditary disorders that affect connective tissue, usually causing people to have overly flexible joints and stretchy, fragile skin.)
Blair confirmed that her multiple sclerosis (MS) is fine and that she is “still in remission”, but she will soon have to undergo an MRI and blood tests.
“It seems like I'm doing well and [an IV drip] helps so much,” Blair shared. “I still get tired. I'm still as stiff as ever. When I am alone, I move and walk better and in open space. Yet I find that when I go out, it is still very pronounced as I go into different rooms and hallways, meet new people or even concentrate on talking about it.”
Blair admitted that she doesn't mind talking about “how weird” her symptoms are because she knows it can “look weird.”
“And when I didn't talk to anyone else who had MS or other things that might be similar, I didn't know it could come and go like that,” she explained. “I was used to things being a little more linear when I was younger, or that was just the way things were, and I felt bad all the time.”
Even though she's doing 'fine', it still makes Blair 'sad' that she just wants to 'sleep and then move on' [her] horse and get better.”
“I'm a beginner every day, so it's like that Groundhog Day and I'm doing really well, there's nothing to complain about, but I don't know if I'll ever have the coordination, balance or endurance that I want,” Blair said, adding that she is still “lucky” and ” grateful'.
Three years after being diagnosed with MS, Blair announced in August 2021 that she had gone into remission as a result of undergoing a stem cell transplant.
“My prognosis is great. I'm in remission,” Blair explained to a Television Critics Association panel at the time, per Today. “It took about a year after the stem cell transplant for the inflammation and lesions to really go away, so I was hesitant to talk about it because I felt the need to be more healed. I have no new lesions. There is still maintenance, treatment and breakdowns, and wonderful things. Cognitively I have changed a lot and that is the harder part.