Selma Blair Opened Up About Her MS Diagnosis In An Interview That Highlights Her Strength

On the heels of her inspiring red carpet appearance at the Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty, Selma Blair is opening up about her multiple sclerosis diagnosis for the first time since revealing that she had been diagnosed with the disease back in October 2018, as People noted. In her interview with Good Morning America's Robin Roberts, Blair was especially open about her struggles with MS and how she's maintaining her positive mindset.

During the interview, Blair explained that she was in the middle of a flare-up and was subsequently experiencing spasmodic dysphonia, which affects her voice. Still, the actor managed to tell Roberts about her disease, not only to explain what she's currently experiencing but to also raise awareness for the illness. “I am doing very well,” she said, “I am very happy to see you. Being able to just put out what being in the middle of an aggressive form of Multiple sclerosis is like. So my speech, I have spasmodic dysphonia right now. … It is interesting to be here to say this is what my particular case looks like right now.”

According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, MS is a chronic disease that affects the brain, spinal cord, and the nerves in the body. When she first received her diagnosis of MS, she revealed that she "cried," partly due to the relief in knowing that there was a reason behind the symptoms that she was experiencing, symptoms which she dealt with ever since her son, Arthur, was born seven years ago. “I had tears,” she explained, “They weren’t tears of panic, they were tears of knowing that I now had to give in to a body that had loss of control and there was some relief in that.”

She said that her doctors are hopeful that she will be able to regain 90 percent of her abilities in a year. But, until then, she's learning to live with her disease, so that she can not only set a positive example for her son, but for others, as well. During her ongoing battle with MS, Blair explained that she reached out to Michael J. Fox, who has dealt with Parkinson's for 30 years, for advice, "I said, ‘I don’t know who to tell, I’m dropping things, I’m doing strange things.’ … he got in touch with me… but like really he gives me hope."

With Blair speaking out publicly about her own chronic illness, she's now the one who's giving others hope. Despite being a little "scared" to speak out about her disease in such a public manner, she put her fears aside so that she can help raise awareness about MS. She explained, and showed that she hasn't lost her sense of humor, "No one has the energy to talk when they’re in a flare-up, but I do because I love a camera.”

In case you missed it, Blair made an appearance atVanity Fair's Oscars after party on Feb. 24, in which she walked the red carpet using a truly decked-out cane, as the actor revealed on Instagram. Her inspiring appearance marked the first time that she had walked a red carpet since she revealed that she was diagnosed with MS back in October 2018.

Blair opened up about her health battle on Instagram in October, when she first revealed to her followers that she had been diagnosed with MS. In her post, she highlighted how much the costume designer, Allisa Swanson, on her upcoming Netflix series, Another Life, has helped her with costume fittings. She also wrote:

“I am in an exacerbation. By the grace of the lord, and willpower 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 precisely, but I will do my best.”

Not only is Blair spreading awareness about MS through her many updates about her chronic illness, but she's also spreading hope and showing off her incredibly brave spirit in the process.