From Hollywood "It" girl to a successful memoir writer, Selma Blair's career has
had plenty of peaks and valleys. This is all the drama you might not know about.
On October 20, 2018, Selma Blair posted a selfie on her Instagram
along with a long heartfelt message to her fans, sharing that she has multiple
sclerosis and was diagnosed in August of that year. She expressed her gratitude to
Netflix and relief at finally having the answers, writing in the caption:
"I am in the thick of it but I hope to give some hope to others. And even to myself."
Then the actor surprised everyone by appearing on the red carpet at Vanity Fair Oscars Party,
looking stunning in a gown with black, pink, and green accents,
holding a stylish cane. One of her first interviews following her diagnosis was
with ABC's Nightline. She told Robin Roberts she was doing well, adding,
"If I can help anyone, or help anyone be more empathetic to someone that might seem
like me or a lot worse, God forbid, then, you know, that's the least I can do right now."
Blair didn't stop there. Her 2021 documentary, Introducing, Selma Blair,
chronicles her fight against the disease, mainly focusing on an experimental stem
cell replacement therapy. In one of her low moments she documented in a "cell phone diary,"
Blair is incapacitated in her bed and can be heard saying,
"I'm in a ball in my bed. Everything's so blurry."
Selma Blair is the youngest of four daughters and as she detailed in her memoir, Mean Baby,
the girls were raised Jewish. Though it was her father's family that was Jewish,
Blair shared that her Jewish upbringing was greatly driven by her mother as well. Blair wrote,
"Even though my mother herself didn't identify as Jewish, it was important to her that I did.
I was her chosen one. This became my first big role: to perform Jewishness."
The actor went on to share that they celebrated Chanukah and observed Yom Kippur . Blair,
along with two of her sisters attended Hillel Day School,
located over an hour away from where they grew up in Michigan. Even with the long commute,
the actor expressed gratitude for having received that education. In the second grade,
she officially converted. In a 2022 interview with Forward, she said of her present-day faith,
"I am not observant in the sense of attending synagogue regularly,
keeping kosher. But I observe the High Holidays with prayer and traditions at home."
In June of 2012, Anger Management premiered starring Charlie Sheen as
an ex baseball player turned therapist and Selma Blair as Sheen's character's
therapist. Of course the two characters had more than a doctor/patient relationship;
she was also a friend — with benefits to boot. And though the series was only two seasons,
Blair was cut from the show before the end of the long final season.
According to TMZ, Sheen gave producers an ultimatum to fire Blair. Apparently,
he was under the impression that she wasn't thrilled with him as a co-worker. In a follow
up article with The Hollywood Reporter, a source reported that Sheen sent Blair a
rude and profane text message. While at the time, Blair wouldn't comment to the press,
she did leave a short message on Twitter, thanking her fans for their
support. For Sheen's side of things, he gave a different story in a 2013 chat with Jay Leno,
which included no mention of the reported feud between the two actors. Sheen told Leno:
"One of our primary characters, Selma Blair, who played Kate,
was written out because [the show] was not about our relationship,
and the problem was [...] the 'Anger Management' character was a little dull."
While there were rumors that Blair was looking into suing both Lionsgate
Entertainment and the star of the show, no further reports were available on the matter.
In 1999, actors Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair riveted audiences and created
an iconic pop culture moment when they kissed in the movie Cruel Intentions.
It was actually one of the sweeter moments in a flick that was centered around, well,
cruel intentions. The actors even snagged the award for Best Kiss at the 2000 MTV
Movie Awards and recreated the memorable scene on stage, though much more chaste this time.
Over the years the two friends popped up in each other's social media feeds,
appeared together on red carpets, and even attended concerts together. Blair
mentioned Gellar in a 2021 article in Variety as one of the people who's
provided support during her times of need. In June of 2022, Gellar turned 45 years old,
Blair turned 50 and both women honored each other in heartfelt messages on Instagram. Blair wrote,
"Happy birthday SMG. I love you forever and have since we met..."
In Gellar's instagram post, the actress wrote:
"If I told that little girl on the right, that the girl to her left was going to be
her lifelong friend... she would say "I know" ... I'm always with you. I love you my mean baby."
Selma Blair has been an open book since her 2018 multiple sclerosis diagnosis,
as well as ever since she literally wrote a book about her life, Mean Baby. In it,
she candidly shared that her struggle with alcohol started at an early age.
She went on to share that by age seven she was drinking regularly without her mother knowing.
"Yeah, my first drunk when I was seven. I had my first drinks, you know, much younger."
She shared in her memoir that her father did witness her drunk and throwing up when she was
in grade school, but did not intervene. Looking back, Blair learned that her long history with
mystery symptoms and illnesses were a driving force for her drinking. The drinking progressed
into adulthood, causing her untold problems and pain. As she detailed in her memoir, she was
once sexually assaulted while intoxicated. But in 2016, Blair found sobriety. She said on The View:
"And it didn't become a battle until I realized it was ruining my personality."
Many people who struggle with alcoholism have their "rock bottom" story,
the incident that precedes a significant life change. For Selma Blair, that happened in 2016
after a family vacation in Mexico. On the flight home with her son and his father, Jason Bleick,
Blair blacked out and had to be taken off the plane, igniting a media firestorm. TMZ reported
that Blair was seen taking something that could have been pills while drinking alcohol. Not long
after, Blair made a public apology via an exclusive statement to Vanity Fair, saying:
"I made a big mistake yesterday. After a lovely trip with my son and his Dad, I mixed alcohol with
medication, and that caused me to black out and led me to say and do things that I deeply regret."
But it wasn't the public humiliation that motivated Blair to take action;
it was her son. And when she awoke in the hospital to learn she almost died from her days'
long drinking binge as a result of physical and emotional pain, she made a decision to change.
Besides being an accomplished actor, one of the things Selma Blair is known for is her
personal style, which includes her makeup. As one can imagine, doing your makeup could
prove challenging if you have an illness like multiple sclerosis, which causes nerve damage
that could result in impaired coordination. These symptoms vary depending on the person and their
treatment. As documented in Introducing, Selma Blair, Blair experienced the ups and downs of
impaired speech and mobility, which improved after her experimental stem cell treatment.
In the starting of her documentary, she looks in the mirror while getting ready,
then proceeds to put on makeup, a bit breathless and struggling with the application.
In March of 2019, Blair posted a humorous makeup tutorial on her Instagram in which
she uses a big brush and quickly runs it over her whole face before stating,
"There. Done. Stop."
We don't know if that was the lightbulb moment,
but in June of 2022, People reported Blair had joined GUIDE Beauty as Chief
Creative Officer. According to their website, GUIDE Beauty is described as:
"Universally designed tools that literally guide your
hand to better and easier application, along with luxurious, clean formulas."
Blair told the magazine that she was already successfully using the
products before her official involvement in the company.
In 2011, a pregnant Selma Blair was photographed with her 10-year-old horse, Taffy. And if you
scroll her social media feed over the years, you'll find that horses have always been a part
of her life. Like her 2014 #throwbackthursday shot of her sister and herself posing with a horse when
she was just 14. Or the 2017 picture she shared on Twitter of her in full riding gear atop her horse,
Ivy. And about five months later, she proudly posted a pic of a white horse with the caption,
"I am so excited I cannot even believe I have my very first amazing show horse."
Sadly, Blair shared on Instagram in July of 2019 that she only had a short time with the
horse before she couldn't get on him due to her MS symptoms. But she vowed to jump the
horse again and continue to grow stronger so she could get back to a place of "self love."
Blair's determination and love for the four-legged creatures would soon pay off. In August of 2020,
she shared on her Instagram two images of her riding her horse—one where she's leaning over
embracing the horse and another in which she appears to be going over an obstacle.
One of Selma Blair's most iconic roles was as a snooty nemesis turned ally to
Reese Witherspoon's Elle Woods in Legally Blonde.
"I object."
As Vivian, Blair somehow made her character go from annoying to endearing. At the 20-year
virtual anniversary of the first movie, some of the actors reminisced about
being on set. Blair said of watching Witherspoon's energy during filming:
"I knew this movie would be big."
In July of 2022, Blair was on the podcast "Shut Up, Evan," and host Evan Ross Katz brought up
that an alternate ending to Legally Blonde featured Vivian and Elle on the beach in Hawaii,
drinking margaritas. Blair laughed and said she would've been thrilled by that final
scene. Blair's character Vivian was not in Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde,
but she did comment on the possibility of appearing in a third installment, saying,
"I hope I get to at least make a cameo."
On October 22, 2017, the Los Angeles Times broke a story with the headline:
"38 women have come forward to accuse director James Toback of sexual harassment."
It detailed the story of a predator who sought young acting hopefuls,
lure and manipulate them with the promise of a career only to sexually harass them and
threaten violence. Few women were named in the article, but one of the unnamed was Selma Blair.
Days later, Blair went public, along with actor Rachel McAdams,
speaking exclusively with Vanity Fair about their traumatic experiences with
Toback. Blair said it was Toback's denial of the allegations that spurred her to act.
Blair recalled meeting with Toback at his hotel in 1999. As she told Vanity Fair,
she had requested they meet in the restaurant, but upon arrival, she was rerouted to his room.
According to Blair, their meeting strangely turned into a conversation in which Toback
allegedly claimed he could have somebody killed. Blair also said that at one point he asked her to
strip naked. Things only escalated from there, and she said she initially didn't tell anyone
about the incident, out of fear. In 2018, The Guardian reported the news that Toback would
not face charges since the allegations fell outside California's statute of limitations.