Everything We Know About Selma Blair's Health Issues

In 2018, Selma Blair took to Instagram to share a vulnerable post with her followers. She was working on a Netflix show at the time and was experiencing a moment of immense gratitude, which also led her to the decision to tell the world about a diagnosis that forever changed her life. Without preamble, Blair shared that she had multiple sclerosis (MS). "By the grace of the lord, and will power and the understanding producers at Netflix, I have a job. A wonderful job," she wrote. "I am disabled. I fall sometimes. I drop things. My memory is foggy. And my left side is asking for directions from a broken gps. But we are doing it."

Blair's optimism was admirable. Cleveland Clinic explains that multiple sclerosis is a serious autoimmune disease with no cure that affects the spinal cord and brain. The disease attacks myelin cells, the protective layer found around the nerves and spinal cord. Blair had scary symptoms like numbness, jerks, and spasms, but the disease can also affect your mobility and vision. Various palliative treatments for MS exist, and Blair received a hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) which helped her go into remission. She also underwent chemotherapy as part of that treatment. "I'll get MRIs a couple of times a year, and I still do treatments. I know a lot of people can't afford it, but for me, [it] really alleviated the MS progression incredibly. It saved my life," she told Us Weekly.

Despite being in remission, Blair told "Meet The Press" that she still experiences daily pain from the disease. "I really am in pain all the time. There's this stiffness that doesn't leave me" she admitted.

After sharing her multiple sclerosis diagnosis with the world, Selma Blair became more than just a Hollywood icon — she turned into a beacon of hope for others with MS. This is perhaps why she was very open about another condition she got diagnosed with.

Like so many other stars who have been open about their health issues, Blair decided to take to Instagram in January 2024 to tell her followers about her latest diagnosis: Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS). The NHS explains that EDS, which is actually an umbrella term for a group of diseases that weaken the body's connective tissue, can lead to debilitating symptoms like thin and stretchy skin and hypermobility. This is a rare but serious condition and is usually hereditary. "I hurt all the time," Blair admitted in the video (via Healthline). "I say that only for you people that hurt also. Like, I get it." Blair seems to deal with hypermobility because of the disease and explained that her muscles feel stiff all the time. "I'll pull my muscles too easily, and then they're like slack and sit there. So I get some injuries," she explained.

Blair assured fans that she was doing fine, saying her EDS didn't qualify as "horrible, scary stuff," but that it did have an impact on her life. "It's just like one of those extra things that turns into a chronic thing," she admitted. "And you have to watch because people think stretching's so good for you, and I'm technically not allowed to stretch because I'm always stretching." EDS, like MS, doesn't have a cure but can be managed with certain treatments like physiotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and occupational therapy.