Selma Blair Emotionally Reveals Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis

Selma Blair
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The 46-year-old actress shared the news in a powerful Instagram post on Saturday.

Selma Blair has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. 

The 46-year-old actress shared the news with her followers on Instagram on Saturday, revealing in an emotional post that she was diagnosed in August, but "have probably had this incurable disease for 15 years at least." 

Blair said she decided to announce her diagnosis after a wardrobe fitting for her new Netflix show, Another Life, as costume designer Allisa Swanson "carefully gets my legs in my pants, pulls my tops over my head, buttons my coats and offers her shoulder to steady myself." "I have #multiplesclerosis," she wrote. 

"By the grace of the lord, and will power and the understanding producers at Netflix , I have a job. A wonderful job. I am disabled. I fall sometimes. I drop things. My memory is foggy. And my left side is asking for directions from a broken gps. But we are doing it . And I laugh and I don’t know exactly what I will do from precisely but I will do my best," Blair said.

The Cruel Intentions star continued, explaining that she was diagnosed at 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 16. She thanked her friends for their support, including Jaime King, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Tara Subkoff and Noah Newman along with Another Life executive producer Noreen Halpern.

"I am in the thick of it but I hope to give some hope to others. And even to myself," she continued, sharing more about her everyday struggles. "And the biggest thanks to @elizberkley who forced me to see her brother #drjasonberkley who gave me this diagnosis after finding lesions on that mri. I have had symptoms for years but was never taken seriously until I fell down in front of him trying to sort out what I thought was a pinched nerve. I have probably had this incurable disease for 15 years at least. And I am relieved to at least know. And share. ? my instagram family... you know who you are."

According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, an estimated 2.3 million people live with the disease worldwide. MS, which affects more women than men, is typically diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50. The organization describes MS as "an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body." 

Blair isn't the only celebrity to be diagnosed with the disease lately. Jack Osbourne revealed his diagnosis in 2012, while Jamie Lynn Sigler revealed in 2016 that she had been diagnosed with the disease 15 years earlier. 

See more in the video below. 

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