The 'Cruel Intentions' actress thinks going public with her health struggle has damaged her career as she 'never got a job again' after announcing her MS diagnosis.
- Dec 10, 2022
AceShowbiz - Selma Blair believes speaking publicly about her multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis has ruined her career. The 50-year-old actress was diagnosed with MS - which can lead to physical and mental problems - in 2018, and she's convinced that it's had a negative impact on her career in Hollywood.
"When I talked about it, there was so much support, but I never got a job again," she shared.
The actress has experienced fatigue and speech disturbances for decades. However, she remained tight-lipped about the issue for a long time because she thought it would damage her career. She told the BBC, "I was ashamed and concerned I wouldn't work again."
Despite this, Selma actually felt "unburdened" when she received the diagnosis. The "Dark Horse" star said, "It was a relief. There was a little bit of panic, like how will I have the energy to ever even deal with this?"
"I had been down that road for so many years without a diagnosis that I did feel kind of hopeless still, but I was hoping that the diagnosis of MS would give me so many more options. It was an amazing, comforting feeling to know that there was a wholecommunity of chronic illness or MS patients."
Selma believes that Hollywood has made strides in its representation of people with disabilities. However, she insists that much more can still be done. The actress - who has an 11-year-old son called Arthur - said, "There is a bigger responsibility to create iconic images with people that have disabilities."
"I know that my own MS took my career down. I had to stop working for years, even before I had my son [in 2011], because I wasn't well. Disability was affecting me and taking me out of the workforce and it created huge changes in my physical appearance … things that couldn't be in a movie or a TV show."
