Selma Blair is getting candid on what it’s like being in remission for multiple sclerosis — and the pain that comes with getting older.
“I hurt all the time,” Blair, 51, said in an Instagram video on Monday, January 29. “I say that only for you people that hurt also. Like I get it.”
The Legally Blonde actress went on to say that, in general, aging “hurts” for everyone.
“You have to stretch,” she explained, adding that for her it’s “hard to stretch” because of Ehlers-Danlos. “The Ehlers-Danlos will make me really, really stiff because I’ll pull my muscles too easily. So I get some injuries, but this is nothing that’s like horrible, scary stuff or anything. It’s just like one of those extra things that turns into a chronic thing and you have to watch.”
(According to the Mayo Clinic, Ehlers-Danlos is a group of inherited disorders that affect connective tissues resulting in people usually having overly flexible joints and stretchy, fragile skin.)
Blair confirmed that her multiple sclerosis (MS) is fine and she’s “still in remission,” however, she is due for an MRI and blood work soon.
“I seem to be doing fine and [an IV drip] helps so much,” Blair shared. “I still get tired. I still am stiff like all the time. If I’m by myself, I do move and walk better and in open space. But still I notice when I go out it’s still very pronounced when I go into different rooms, hallways or meeting new people or even focusing on talking about it.”
Blair admitted that she doesn’t mind talking about “how strange” her symptoms are because she knows it “can look weird.”
“And when I didn’t talk to anyone else that had MS or other things that might be like this, I didn’t know that it could come and go like that,” she explained. “I was used to things being a little more linear when I was younger or that was just the way things were and I felt bad all the time.”
Although she is doing “well,” it still makes Blair “sad” that she just wants to “sleep and then get on [her] horse and be better.”
“I’m a beginner every day, so it’s like Groundhog Day and I’m doing really well there’s no complaining, but I don’t know if I’ll ever have the coordination or balance or stamina that I want to,” Blair said, adding that she’s still “lucky” and “grateful.”
Three years after being diagnosed with MS, Blair announced in August 2021 that she had entered into remission due to undergoing a stem cell transplant.
“My prognosis is great. I’m in remission,” Blair explained to a Television Critics Association panel at the time, per Today. “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. I don’t have any new lesions forming. There’s still maintenance, treatment and glitches, and wonderful things. Cognitively, I’m very changed and that’s the harder part.”
