birthday
“Cruel Intentions” star Blair turns 50
US actress Selma Blair turns 50. Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision via AP/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Behind the Hollywood backdrop, actress Selma Blair has faced many challenges. Now she is 50 – and tells in a documentary and autobiography about life with multiple sclerosis, among other things.
Even as a baby, Selma Blair was unusual. “I came into this world with my mouth twisted into a constant snarl,” writes the actress. Her parents therefore referred to her as “mean baby”.
Half a century later, Blair, who turns 50 on Thursday (June 23), has chosen the very same moniker as the title of her autobiography, which has just been published in the United States. In it she tells of her global success as an actress with films like “Eiskalte Engel” – but also of alcoholism, rape and her life with multiple sclerosis.
In 2018, Blair was diagnosed with the nervous system disorder, which includes inflammation in the spinal cord and brain, after decades of suffering intermittent pain. “I was overwhelmed with relief,” Blair writes of the diagnosis. “Now I had a treatment plan to follow. I had information. A name. This time one that fit.”
With a walker in public
Her doctors had advised her not to make the diagnosis public. “You are an actress, your body, your voice, that’s all you have,” they said to her. But Blair decides against it, shows himself publicly with a walker, among other things.
In the meantime, thanks to a stem cell transplant, she is doing better, the actress recently told US radio station NPR. “I’m in great shape, but I have permanent damage.” Among other things, you can tell by her voice, which sometimes blocks. The actress also provides insights into this in the documentary “Introducing, Selma Blair” by director Rachel Fleit, which was released last year.
Multiple sclerosis isn’t the only challenge facing Blair, who was born in Michigan in 1972. She started drinking as a young teenager and was then alcoholic for a long time – also to combat the pain caused by multiple sclerosis, the actress writes. She also experienced more mental and physical pain. “I’ve been raped multiple times because I was too drunk to say, ‘Please stop,'” Blair writes. “It was always bad and always wrong and I came out of it quietly and ashamed every time.”
Career in Hollywood
At the same time, Blair still managed to make a career in Hollywood. After her breakthrough in “Ice Cold Angels” in 1999, she starred in films such as “The One or No”, “Legally Blonde”, “Super Cute and Super Sexy”, “Opportunity Makes Love” and “Hellboy”. Numerous relationships failed, in 2011 Blair had a son to whom she has now dedicated her autobiography. She wrote it primarily to encourage other people, especially others affected by multiple sclerosis, says Blair: “It’s never too late to regain control of things.”