Selma Blair has shared that she lives with a rare condition as part of her MS diagnosis.
The 53-year-old lives with dystonia, a neurological movement disorder that causes involuntary muscle contractions, repetitive movements, or abnormal postures.
She was first diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 2018 and since then she has been open about her health journey.
Here’s everything we know about Selma Blair’s health conditions.
WHEN WAS SELMA BLAIR DIAGNOSED WITH MS?
The Cruel Intentions star discovered she had MS in 2018, after living with the symptoms of the condition for around 15 years. MS is a central nervous system condition that damages nerves, affecting the electrical signals in the brain. It can cause muscle weakness, vision changes, numbness and memory loss.
“I am a forthcoming person and I want my life to be full somehow. I want to play with my son again. I want to walk down the street and ride my horse. I have MS and I am ok,” she wrote in an Instagram post at the time.
During an appearance on Good Morning America in 2019, she talked about how the condition impacted her every single day.
“I dropped my son off at school a mile away and before I got home, I’d have to pull over and take a nap and I was ashamed and I was doing the best I could and I was a great mother, but it was killing me,” she said.
“I was dropping things. I was doing strange things… I was self-medicating when (my son) wasn’t with me. I was drinking. I was in pain.”
The actress said she “cried” when she was finally diagnosed.
.”They weren’t tears of panic. They were tears of knowing I now had to give in to a body that had loss of control and there was some relief in that.”
WHEN DID SELMA BLAIR GO INTO REMISSION?
In her 2021 documentary, Introducing Selma Blair, the star revealed that she was in remission from MS after a period of intensive treatment.
“A few years ago, I didn’t think I’d be here. It’s been a long time learning to adapt to a new normal,” she said earlier this year during an appearance on TODAY.
“I am doing amazingly well,” she told PEOPLE during a red carpet appearance in April. “I’ve been feeling great for about a year.”
“But I am finally well enough to really, genuinely… I always try and feel my best, but now that I actually have stamina and energy and getting out and going out isn’t so scary,” she continued.
She also told the publication she realised she had spent so much time dealing with the condition she didn’t know what her “dreams” were anymore.
“You’re just tired all the time,” she said, explaining how the condition impacted her life. “I spent so much of my life so tired from being unwell that I think I just was trying to get through the day.”
“And now it’s like, wait, I realise I don’t know what my goals are,” she added.
WHAT IS DYSTONIA?
In July 2025, The Sweetest Thing star revealed she lives with a condition called dystonia as part of her MS diagnosis.
“I have dystonia, which is often misunderstood as difficult or drunk,” she said during a conversation about accessible travel with Travel + Leisure Editor-in-Chief Jacqui Gifford.
“People will say, ‘I saw you walk up to this gate and now you’re acting like you can’t talk.’ It’s like, ‘No, this isn’t manipulation.’ And then as soon as I talk, they ask me, ‘Do we need the police?'”
WHAT IS SELMA BLAIR’S LIFE LIKE NOW?
Over the past couple of years as her condition improved, Selma has been making more public appearances on talk shows, podcasts and red carpet events.
While talking to PEOPLE in April, she said she would love to get back into acting and has some movies “in the works”.
She’s also dating someone new, whose identity she’s keeping secret at the moment.
“It’s possible to find love at 52. And beyond!” she told US Weekly in 2024.
“He’s not in this business, although he has produced before. I wanted a Midwest man, and I found a real Midwest man.”
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