Selma Blair reveals the MS symptoms doctors dismissed since she was a kid: ‘It took me 30 years to get an MRI'
The 'Cruel Intentions' actress, now 52, can trace early symptoms back to her childhood, but claims doctors brushed off the red flags for decades.
'It took me 30 years to get an MRI,' Blair said last week during a panel at the second annual Women's Health Lab, hosted in partnership with Northwell Health's Katz Institute for Women's Health.
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3 Selma Blair was diagnosed with MS on August 2018.
Getty Images for Glamour
At the age of 7, Blair lost control of her bladder and use of her right eye and left leg — yet, after ruling out cancer, doctors and family branded her an attention seeker.
What they missed: Juvenile MS, a debilitating disease that affects the central nervous system by disrupting the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and body.
'If you're a boy with those symptoms, you get an MRI. If you're a girl, you're called 'crazy',' Blair told British Vogue in 2023.
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As a child, the 'Hellboy' actress would wake up laughing uncontrollably in the middle of the night.
Decades later, those laughs gave way to sudden, uncontrollable spells of sobbing.
'I just thought I was a hugely emotional person,' Blair said. In reality, MS had damaged her frontal lobe — like a brain injury.
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It would be another 40 years until she received the diagnosis.
3 Selma Blair with her service doc Scout at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2025
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'[I was] thrilled,' Blair told People earlier this month.
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'I felt like people thought it had to be some tragic thing, but I was like, 'No, you don't understand,'' she said. 'I was feeling tragic inside before.'
Blair, who shares 13-year-old son Arthur with ex Jason Bleick, said she often wondered what was 'wrong' with her before the diagnosis.
'I just did not understand how I was so different from people, but yet totally kind of fine-ish,' she told the outlet. 'I finally just felt seen.'
Nearly 1 million Americans have been diagnosed with MS, according to the National MS Society. The disease can affect anyone, including children.
You may be at higher risk if you're female, between 20 and 40, and of Northern European descent, per the Cleveland Clinic.
3 'If you're a boy with those symptoms, you get an MRI. If you're a girl, you're called 'crazy',' Blair said.
Getty Images
Doctors don't know exactly what causes MS, but research suggests that factors like smoking, childhood obesity, low vitamin D levels and genetics could be possible triggers.
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Exposure to toxins like secondhand smoke and pesticides — as well as viruses such as Epstein-Barr or mono — may also increase the risk.
Early warning signs of the MS include blurred vision, muscle weakness and numbness.
As the disease progresses, symptoms can range from fatigue and dizziness to trouble with balance, bladder control, mood swings, muscle stiffness, and cognitive issues like memory and concentration problems.
Many patients experiencing periods of remission where signs of the disease fade. While there is no cure, treatments can help manage symptoms and reduce flare-ups.
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Last year, Blair revealed she suffered a major relapse after a stem cell transplant — but she's now in remission thanks to a new provider.
Her doctor — the first woman she's ever been treated by — took a holistic approach, including factoring in the actresses early menopause.
'It really did change my life completely,' Blair said at the Women's Health Lab panel. 'We found a way to manage my MS and I am doing really, really well right now.'
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It was just, like most parents, she trusted doctors because if you are a boomer, like she is, you have no reason to distrust doctors. Their legitimacy is pretty firm in your mind as someone of that generation. So I don't blame her.' 8 A bright spot in Yardley's new life has been starting a band called Pariah the Doll. The debut album is 'Castrato.' Spotify As for those doctors, Yardley is surprisingly merciful. 'I don't believe, as a Christian, that people are setting out to do evil for evil's sake. I don't think anyone has that in their heart,' he said. 'But I think it has a lot to do with an overreach of professionals and a lot to do with money. Hospitals make a lot of money from these procedures. They benefit from having lifelong patients, which is what transgender people are. You need the hormones to maintain the identity.' If he could go back, would he change any of it? 'There's no way to live your life without making mistakes or going down the wrong path,' Yardley says. 'My life would be totally different if I made different decisions at 15 years old, so I can't really conceive of a different path. I don't live in a regret state. In many ways, I'm extraordinary lucky.' He does, however, wish that doctors would learn to be more open-minded. 'If you're a gender-nonconforming kid, you should be allowed to be yourself. I think that was the biggest problem. I didn't feel like I could be confident in who I was. And if that person happens to like singing and dancing and cooking and Barbie dolls, who really cares? You can be a boy who likes that,' Yardley says. 'At the time, nobody in my life told me that was possible.'
