Selma Blair is feeling like her best self as she returns to Hollywood after taking a break due to her struggle with multiple sclerosis.
“I am building stamina and because I have some real-time being relapse-free, I am feeling more confident to be back on set,” the actress, 52, exclusively tells Us Weekly while promoting her partnership with EMD Serono for Express4MS. “I didn’t think that was something I would even want to do.”
Blair shares that while she has “built” some stamina, she still needs to make sure she remembers to take breaks.
“I do take myself off of the set and I get in the trailer and I decompress and I meditate for a moment and recenter myself,” she says. “If I keep pushing, I will get a little shaky. I will have some glitches with my speech.”
Blair acknowledges that it’s “normal” to feel the “after effects” from pushing her body too hard. Her main goal, however, is to keep from suffering a relapse. Blair is currently “relapse-free.”
In 2018, Blair was diagnosed with MS and has been candid about the challenges she faces with the chronic illness. While the Cruel Intentions star took a break from the spotlight to prioritize her health, she’s been making her return to the film screen. She currently has multiple projects in the works including the war drama Stay Forte, the supernatural thriller Silent and the film There There.
As Blair returns to work, she’s happy to see the strides she’s made and to have supportive collaborators by her side.
“When I had first been diagnosed, I was in a much different place, of course, but that’s actually how I came out to talk about MS because I was thanking a wardrobe designer for helping dress me and bringing a cane into my character and things,” she recalls to Us. “And that gave me a sense of safety that I had never had in a dark time. So I love being with great creative people and on set.”
In addition to getting to play new characters and travel in an airplane again, Blair says she didn’t realize how much she missed the camaraderie from being on a set.
“I think being on set is a huge passion that I forgot I had,” she tells Us. “The gratitude I feel for moving forward in that space then gave me more confidence to say, ‘No, I don’t want to just be an actress.’ There’s so many things and I’m kind of getting on top of this now. I am excited for the things to come and doing these movies. It means the world to me that someone wants to take a chance on me and get me back into the space.”
She also has no plans of slowing down after that — in fact, there’s one specific show she is dreaming of joining if given the chance.
“I’m just prepping for Mike White to give me that call on White Lotus!” she jokes. “I’m so excited for that season. I’m the biggest super fan, and I really, really think I would shine in that.”
While Blair is back in action, she’s also not going to stop advocating for MS. That’s why she’s teamed up with EMD Serono for their Express4MS campaign which gives MS patients the platform to tell their story.
“It encourages people to share their experiences with MS and to learn from other people. You can go there, you can hear other people’s stories [and] share so you can advocate for yourself better when you go to your doctor,” she tells Us. “Because so many variables, so many no RMS is really the same. It depends. Everyone’s disease journey is different, and so it’s just a resource with people just hearing from other people so that you can take that to your doctor. And I just am also here to remind people that while MS is absolutely a part of your life, [but] it is not the whole story.”
