'Introducing, Selma Blair' Is a Raw, Moving Portrait of Life With Multiple Sclerosis

Selma Blair, the award-winning actress known for her work in “Cruel Intentions,” the Hellboy series, and many more, has created a documentary about her life and experiences living with multiple sclerosis.

You may remember this earlier piece published in August regarding her diagnosis announcement. In that piece, I discuss the actress’s career and her announcement of her diagnosis to entertainment media. She told many publications that her prognosis was good and that her documentary was an opportunity to open up to others about a very intimate aspect of her life.

Now in October, her documentary entitled “Introducing, Selma Blair” on Discovery+  reveals an intimate, dynamic portrait of her life with multiple sclerosis. Blair was diagnosed in 2018 after living for years with various symptoms that led to her diagnosis.

The 49-year-old actress opens up her life both to scrutiny and compassion as she shares what it was like being diagnosed, enduring a stem-cell transplant to treat the disease in 2019, and living her life day by day.

She told the New York Times in an interview, “This is my human condition, and everyone has their own, but I think we are united in feeling alone or frightened when we have a big change in our lives. This wasn’t a vanity project at all, and I’m very capable of loving vanity.”

Blair met up with the director of the documentary Rachel Fleit just days prior to the transplant, and the two began working together to produce the intimate, finished masterpiece you can stream today.

Fleit herself is no stranger to autoimmune disorders, as she lives with alopecia universalis — an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss.

Multiple sclerosis is not a disease that one sees often represented in media of any kind, much less on the silver screen. Just a few that have included it in their narrative include “The West Wing,” “Hilary and Jackie,” “Chicago Hope,” and a handful of documentaries.

The power of sharing one’s story is not one to be taken lightly. The Mighty is the perfect example of this — a platform where individuals who have felt silenced by their disabilities, mental illnesses, and more can share their experiences so that others feel less alone in their daily challenges, whatever that looks like.

And that is exactly what Selma Blair is doing. Living openly, sharing her experience honestly through a documentary — just so those who have multiple sclerosis feel less alone.

Feeling alone with your multiple sclerosis diagnosis? Join our MS Connections group on The Mighty to get support from people who understand.