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The Daily Dish Health

After Her Brave Appearance at the Oscars, Selma Blair Gets Real About Her MS Diagnosis

The actress opens up to GMA about her life since learning that she has “aggressive MS."

By Jocelyn Vena
Selma Blair MS_Oscars

Selma Blair made the ultimate brave statement over the weekend when she graced the Vanity Fair Oscars after-party on Sunday (February 24) in a designer gown, complete with superhero-esque cape — and a cane. It marked the actress' first public appearance since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis last year. Now, she's opening up for the first time about her health in an interview with Good Morning America. “Ever since my son was born, I was in an MS flare-up and didn’t know, and I was giving it everything to seem normal," she shared in the sit-down.

Her son was born in 2011 and she wasn't diagnosed until recently because she noted that doctors didn't seem to take her seriously: “And I was self-medicating when he wasn’t with me. I was drinking. I was in pain. I wasn’t always drinking, but there were times when I couldn’t take it.”

She continued, “I was really struggling with, ‘How am I gonna get by in life?’” she said. “And not taken seriously by doctors, just, ‘Single mother, you’re exhausted, financial burden, blah, blah, blah.’”

(She was in a relationship with fashion designer Jason Bleick for two years before they divorced in 2012; he is the father of her son.)

She confirmed her diagnosis on Instagram last October and she shared on GMA on Tuesday (February 26) that she "cried with some relief” after she was diagnosed with an “aggressive MS." Her speech was affected during the interview, but she shared that she hoped that within the year she would have 90 percent of her abilities back according to her current prognosis.

Selma Blair MS Oscars embed

Selma Blair out and about after the the 2019 Academy Awards.

As for how she and her son, Arthur, are dealing with it all, she shared how she told the news to her son. “After the MRI, I said, ‘I have something called multiple sclerosis,’ and he almost cried and said, ‘Will it kill you?’ ” she said. “And I said, ‘No. I mean, we never know what kills us, Arthur. But this is not the doctor telling me I’m dying.' And he was like, ‘Oh. Okay!’"

She added, “I always want him to feel safe, never responsible for me, but he had already seen that I was falling and doing [different] things, and I was always laughing. And he’d imitate me. I’d be like, ‘That’s fine, but don’t do that [outside] of the house. People will think you’re a jerk.’”

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