Selma Blair revealed MS diagnosis so people didn't 'think that I was drunk'

Selma Blair has revealed part of her reason for publicly opening up about her multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis a year ago was because she didn’t want people to think she was “drunk”.

Speaking at the Time 100 Health Summit on Thursday, the actress said she was concerned that people would think her health symptoms, which include difficulty speaking and moving her left leg, were the result of her drinking alcohol.

“I didn’t want people to think that I was drunk, because I have a history of that,” Blair said, laughing. “I’m sober and I’m so proud of that. So that’s really the reason. I’d rather someone think, ‘Oh, she’s going to be in a wheelchair,’ rather than that I’m up in the minibar.”

During the panel with Dr Mehmet Oz and Dr David Agus called Searching for a Cure: A Patient’s View, the Cruel Intentions actress also discussed her history of the illness as a result of the MS and what she wishes she would have done differently when she first began noticing her symptoms.

“Looking back, I would have asked for an MRI,” she said. “I just didn’t ask for that simple tool and no one thought to give it to me … before my son was born I definitely noticed a kind of rapid ageing happening in my 30s.

“And that was very painful and I burned all the time, but I just felt like I got arthritis or something.”

According to the 47-year-old, because she was very active at the time, she also thought her pain may have been due to a pinched nerve and that her other symptoms, such as a worsening lazy eye, were simply because “human bodies are strange”.

However, Blair recalled that after the birth of her son Arthur, the neurological disease was “incapacitating” – but that she’d originally thought it was because she was experiencing postpartum depression.

Blair said she originally tried to treat the symptoms with antidepressants and a macrobiotic diet but just felt “worse and worse”.

“I would have just asked for an MRI when I stopped being able to use my leg, and I didn’t,” she said, recalling how she’d seen multiple doctors before she was diagnosed.

According to the NHS, MS is a condition that can affect the brain and spinal cord, causing a wide range of potential symptoms, including problems with vision, arm or leg movement, sensation or balance.

It's a lifelong condition that can sometimes cause serious disability and is most commonly diagnosed in people in their 20s and 30s.

According to Blair, once she found out she had MS she was “relieved” because she felt: “Oh, I have a human disease! I am human.”

Since opening up about her diagnosis in 2018, the actress has regularly shared updates on her treatments and progress on Instagram.

She has found that these posts, as well as her public appearance at a Vanity Fair Oscars party in February where she used a cane, have inspired others.

She said: “I see other people who were really so comforted that I used a cane at a glamorous event and I didn’t think about that at all, I just didn’t want to fall. And it means something to them. I’m glad I’m useful!”