Selma Blair Reveals She’s in Remission From Multiple Sclerosis

Three years ago, Hellboy and Legally Blonde actress Selma Blair took to social media to announce that she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and then, a few months later, stepped out at the Oscars with a custom cane further sharing her illness and its impact with fans. Now, on Monday Blair had good news for fans with a major update in her battle with MS. After years of enduring a painful flare of the chronic immune disease, Blair revealed that she is now in remission. Blair shared the news during the discovery+ Television Critics Association panel on Monday where she appeared virtually to discuss her upcoming documentary Introducing Selma Blair.

“My prognosis is great,” Blair said at the event, which ComicBook.com attended. “I’m in remission.”

She went on to explain that her remission comes following treatment using hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation. Blair also explained that it took time after her treatment for her inflammation and lesions to improve, though she waited a bit to share the news publically.

“Stem cell put me in remission,” Blair said. “It took about a year after stem cell for the inflammation and lesions to really go down, so I was reluctant to talk about it because I felt this need to be more healed and more fixed. 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 that acceptance. It doesn’t look like this for everyone.”

Blair also said that she appreciates that her fame is giving her a platform to share her experience with others, especially those who may be struggling with their own chronic illnesses, and help to normalize the experience.

“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,” she said. “I’m thrilled that I have some platform. In 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 I that helps normalize one thing to open the door for other people to be comfortable in telling their stories. I’m thrilled to have this here.”

Introducing Selma Blair opens in theaters on October 15 and debuts on discovery+ beginning October 21.

Photo: Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic via Getty Images