The upcoming cast of Dancing with the Stars has just been announced, and many were overjoyed to see that Selma Blair will be competing on the dance show this season. This is a big deal for Blair, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2018.
Blair Is ‘Beyond Thrilled’ To Join ‘DWTS’
Season 31 of Dancing with the Stars will begin airing on Disney+ September 19, and the cast announcement boasts celebrities like Teresa Giudice, Wayne Brady, Jordin Sparks, Vinny Guadagnino, and Selma Blair.
The new cast stopped by Good Morning America to talk about the upcoming season, and Blair shared her excitement about competing. “I am beyond thrilled,” she said. “Realizing the support of people, when you try, it’s changed my life. So, to be here with this group—people I’ve never even met—this is a thrill. This is so powerful to me.”
Blair Opens Up About MS Diagnosis: ‘It’s Life-Changing … You Feel Trapped’
Since her 2018 multiple sclerosis diagnosis, Blair has been an outspoken advocate for those with MS and other chronic illnesses. In an excerpt from her 2022 memoir Mean Baby, the actress wrote, “It’s life-changing, to be given a diagnosis of MS, or any other chronic disease. Even if you’ve lived with the symptoms for years, the story now has a name. It has a label. There is language for your experience. The future you imagined for yourself begins to morph before your eyes. Your plans, even the ones you didn’t realize you had, start to look radically different.”
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She continued, “In a moment, your life divides itself into the before and the after. You realize this body you’ve inhabited for so many years—this bizarre collection of cells—has turned against you. It’s more than a betrayal. You feel trapped, a hostage inside your own skin. You are a stranger to you.”
The Actress’ Work Since Her Diagnosis
Selma Blair explained that her doctors did not want her to publicly reveal her diagnosis: “They said people wouldn’t understand my diagnosis. They worried I wouldn’t get work. They said the disease might not progress beyond what I’d already experienced, so why share it? ‘You’re an actress; your body, your voice, it’s all you have.’ But they were wrong; it wasn’t.”
Since her diagnosis, Blair has been lauded for her open and frank comments about living with MS, as well as her commitment to continuing to do what she loves. Since her diagnosis, the actress has appeared in the Netflix show Another Life, walked in a Christian Siriano show for New York Fashion Week, and released her memoir. Blair’s upcoming performance on Dancing with the Stars shows that the actress is not slowing down, inspiring countless others to keep moving forward.