Blair's Cover Moment
- Actress Selma Blair is on the cover of the new issue of Town & Country magazine, and she discusses her MS battle in the interview.
- MS is a disease in which the immune system eats away at the protective covering of the body’s nerves.
- Blair went public with her disease in 2018.
Blair graces the cover of the latest issue, writing her of her cover girl moment: “A phenomenal and vibrantly loud cover moment. A burst of bright and beautiful that even my mother would applaud. I am pleased. To say the least. I loved this shoot…”
Read MoreView this post on InstagramIn the interview, Blair talks about her cane, which she also showed off recently on social media. She tells the magazine of her decision to bring the cane with her on the red carpet: “It was a no-brainer, and there was no choice." Blair says she needed assistance walking, so she brought her cane. "I hadn't been on a red carpet for so long, and now I was coming," says Blair. "I knew, since my diagnosis, people might be watching. I didn't know if I would be forgotten about and be the last one on the red carpet."
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Selma’s MS Battle
MS is a disease in which the immune system eats away at the protective covering of the body’s nerves. Essentially, the disease disrupts communication between the brain and the body. Symptoms of the disease can include vision loss, pain, fatigue and impaired coordination.
Blair was diagnosed with MS in 2018, and despite this life-changing diagnosis, the actress manages to remain upbeat through her MS journey. Blair took to Instagram to share the news of her diagnosis with fans and followers. In doing so, she has also shined a light on this disease and created a greater awareness of it.
In a 2018 post discussing her illness, she wrote candidly: "I have multiple sclerosis. I am in an exacerbation…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. And I laugh and I don't know exactly what I will do precisely but I will do my best. Since my diagnosis at ten thirty pm on The night of August 16, I have had love and support from my friends…"
Blair has used chemotherapy to treat her MS.
Coping with a Diagnosis
After a life-changing diagnosis like MS or cancer, it can lead to feelings of grief and loss. Dr. Scott Irwin, the director of supportive care services at Cedars-Sinai, discusses the correlation in an earlier interview. “Grief comes in waves,” he says. “It often gets better over time, but at certain days, it can look like depression. And other days, people look perfectly normal and can function.”
Related: Treating Depression After a Cancer Diagnosis
“They’re grieving the change in their life, the future they had imagined is now different,” says Dr. Irwin. “In cancer care, sometimes, we’re actually forcing some body changes that are beyond what would be normal aging, and that can be even harder for people to deal with where they don’t feel like themselves. I had a woman yesterday who said she can’t look in the mirror when she takes a shower, because she shudders at what she looks like versus her vision of herself and her vision of what she looked like when she was healthy.”
“People that are struggling with coping with the experience, coping with body image should reach out to their doctors, find a therapist in the community,” advises Dr. Irwin.
Dealing With Grief After a Cancer Diagnosis
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