Actress Selma Blair opens up in the April/May issue of AARP The Magazine, and talks about living — and really living — with multiple sclerosis.
The former Cruel Intentions and Hellboy star first went public that she had MS in 2018, and has since become a role model for others living with the degenerative condition. Her trials and tribulations were chronicled in the documentary Introducing Selma Blair, and in her book, Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up.
Her MS not only informed the book’s content, but how it came together, Selma tells the magazine. “When I sat down to write Mean Baby after the prefrontal brain damage, it came out as if from the 8-year-old I was when I first wanted to write a book!” she laughs, calling that “beautiful.”
Selma also adds, “My mother was a harsh critic, and I always wanted her to edit my book. [When] she died of cancer…I felt such a profound sense of grief and loss. But when I started down the path of embracing life and writing about it, the documentary about me became very rooted in my mother, a love letter to her, as I try to let go.”
The magazine feature and the film spotlight Blair’s optimism, despite her illness. “I’ve always been a talker and prone to drama, so even if my voice falters or goes into a spasm, I talk through it — I’m learning not to give it a rest!” she declares.
Blair also adds, “I realized that if I’m lucky, I could reach 85, MS or not. Our abilities are always fleeting, but when they fail, it’s always treated as a tragedy. How do we enter a chaotic shift in our life without feeling it’s an end to something? We just have to adapt.”
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