Selma Blair Just Shared the Surprising Link Between Her Sobriety and MS Diagnosis
Selma Blair, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2018, said she would not have known of her condition without getting sober.
The actress' "lowest point" was a 2016 incident that involved her getting kicked off a plane.
Now, she's been sober for eight years.
Selma Blair is opening up about how her sobriety has affected her journey with multiple sclerosis.
In honor of Disability Pride Month, the actress opened up about her diagnosis with Us Weekly in a July 17 cover story. And in the interview, the actress shared how she "wouldn’t have been able to be diagnosed with MS" unless she was sober.
"I wouldn’t be a good mom unless I was sober," she continued. "I self-medicated."
Selma became sober after hitting her "lowest point" with drinking in 2016, when she was removed from a flight on a stretcher while traveling with her then-four-year-old son. The 52-year-old said that when she was drinking, she wasn't able to realize something else was wrong with her body.
But after that incident, she quit drinking altogether, per TODAY.
"I had too much to drink in Mexico. I was so messed up and dehydrated and hungover and I didn't know I had neurological issues," she told Us Weekly. "I didn't understand anything. It was horrifying and humiliating. I had to grow up."
The New York Times best-selling author was diagnosed with MS, an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system, in 2018. However, she had symptoms for five years before receiving an official diagnosis. She is currently in remission.
After receiving her MS diagnosis, she told US Weekly that things made "so much more sense."
"I'd had these jerks and spasms for many years, and I'd try to suppress them or keep moving or drink excessive amounts of alcohol to stop bing things that I thought were mental," she said.
In 2022, the Legally Blonde star detailed her decades-long battle with alcohol addiction in her memoir, Mean Baby. Selma shared with readers how she got drunk for the first time at seven years old, as well as her suicide attempts and sexual assaults.
"I don't know if I would've survived childhood without alcoholism," she said in an interview with People. "That's why it's such a problem for a lot of people. It really is a huge comfort, a huge relief in the beginning."
Selma has since celebrated over eight years sober. In 2018, she posted on Instagram about the milestone alongside a snap of her wearing a party hat and posing next to a cake, noting her "extreme gratitude and humility and grace."
"I thank the lord and my friends," she continued. "I prayed for a miracle at my lowest points. I am a living miracle. Thank you. Thank you."
Congratulations, Selma!
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