Actress Selma Blair opened up to British Vogue about living with multiple sclerosis -- as well as how she helped pave the way for her friend, actress Christina Applegate, who was more recently diagnosed with the disease.
MORE: Selma Blair lands British Vogue May 2023 cover: 'Dynamic, daring, disabled'Blair, who was diagnosed with MS in August 2018, was one of the cover stars of the May 2023 issue, “Reframing Fashion: Dynamic, Daring & Disabled.”
The actress, who posed with her “emotional support” cane, told the publication that she had to suffer for more than 40 years before receiving her life-altering diagnosis. So when her friend and “The Sweetest Thing” co-star Christina Applegate was suffering, Blair urged her to see a doctor.
Applegate detailed their conversation to British Vogue.
“I was sitting in Selma’s living room, our children playing, and I told Selma I’d been having this weird tingling in my feet. She said, ‘You must get tested for MS.’ [Even my doctor doubted it] but there it was. In essence, because of her, I’m going to have a better quality of life,” she said.
Applegate was diagnosed with MS in August of 2021.
“Tingling is certainly one of the first symptoms that patients report pretty frequently. it's one of those symptoms and these chronic neurologic diseases that can be a little more tricky and insidious because it doesn't seem so severe at first. But of course, as the disease progresses, later on, other symptoms will come out of the woodwork,” Dr. Leah Croll, a neurologist with Temple University, told “Good Morning America.”
Nearly 1 million Americans are estimated to be affected by MS. The disease disrupts communication between the brain and the body and can cause pain, numbness and tingling, muscle weakness in the extremities and difficulty with coordination and balance, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Cases can range from "relatively benign to somewhat disabling to devastating," according to the institute.
“We don't have a cure for MS, but what we do have are therapies we call, ‘disease-modifying therapies,’ and these are medications that work with the immune system to reduce the frequency and severity of MS attacks,” said Croll. “So if you catch it earlier, and you've started on one of those medications earlier, potentially you would have a less severe disease course moving forward.”
Both Applegate and Blair are advocates for the MS community. Blair said visibility of the disease is an important step in her advocacy work.
“If I can help remove stigma or over-curiosity in a crowd for someone else,” said Blair. “Then that’s great.”