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Selma Blair shares incredible update on her health 7 years after being diagnosed with MS

“Getting out and going out isn’t so scary.”

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Selma Blair announces she is "truly relapse free" from MS symptoms.

Actress Selma Blair has claimed a major victory in her battle with multiple sclerosis. The Legally Blonde star, 55, who was diagnosed with the neurological disorder that effects the nervous system in 2018, shared in a new interview with PEOPLE that she has been "truly relapse-free" from her multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms. She told the publication, "I've been feeling great for about a year."

Blair struggled for years to pinpoint what had been causing her ailments due to on and off MS symptoms. "It's like relapse remitting, so it can relapse and it can remit, and so as a kid you'd get something checked and then you'd go back [and] it's not quite there, but you're left with the shadow of it," she shared with PEOPLE in April 2025. When she finally received an MS diagnosis, Blair was "thrilled." She told the publication, “I finally just felt seen."

Her MS symptoms previously required her to use a cane for support. In May 2023, she posed for Vogue UK with her cane, telling the publication that it was "an extension of me." Instead of her cane being a source of shame, she chose to also use it to advocate for others who used them. "So many younger people have started publicly embracing their sticks more. I do think representation matters. If I can help remove stigma or over-curiosity in a crowd for someone else, then that's great."

selma blair, ms, celebrity, gif, famous, healthEmmy Awards GIF by EmmysGiphy

Blair also got a service dog named Scout to help with her mobility. Blair referred to Scout as a "tremendous gift" in another interview with PEOPLEin May 2022. She added, "He's with me all the time. If I fall into a big [muscle] spasm or have some trouble moving and need to recalibrate, he can get between my legs, help me get up, and balance me. It's given me a lot of independence."

Now, nearly seven years later, her health has vastly improved. "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 recently told PEOPLE.

selma blair, cane, ms. multiple sclerosis, health, celebrityPeoples Choice Awards GIF by NBCGiphy

With her MS symptoms at bay, Blair added that her focus can now turn back to her career--something that has been on the backburner as her health took precedence. "You're just tired all the time. I spent so much of my life so tired from being unwell that I think I just was trying to get through the day," she shared.

Now that she is feeling better, Blair plans to get back into acting and "would like to write now a young adult book." And without her daily battles with MS symptoms, she has also started to think more about the future. "It's funny, I haven't spent enough time having dreams. And now it's like, what are my dreams?" she said.

Selma blair, actress, MS, health, wellnessseason 1 celebration GIF by PortlandiaGiphy

Although Blair's MS symptoms have subsided, she added that she will continue to speak up about those still struggling with chronic health problems. "I still am advocating for people with chronic illness and getting better, and what that looks like when you haven't made your wishes. How do we give ourselves a new life force?" she shared.

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Science says we trust celebrities. That's why this actress and mom doesn't give advice.

Actress Isla Fisher is probably best known for her star-making role in "Wedding Crashers." But these days she's got her own set of "clingers" — her three kids.

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for WCRF

Fisher recently stopped by "Today" to dish on all things mom-related and to promote her newest adventure: a children's book she wrote based on a silly bedtime improv character she invented called "Marge in Charge."

Most celeb parents, and moms especially, can't seem to dodge the questions that always seems to come next in interviews or conversations like this one: "How do you do it all? What advice do you have for the other moms out there?"

Many moms are more than happy to share their thoughts.

Fisher said in no uncertain terms that being a successful, famous mom, and now author, doesn't mean she's got everything figured out.

She's got her hand in a lot of projects — acting, writing, parenting — but giving out advice to others is one role she'd rather stay away from.

“I try not to get involved and stand on a soapbox and advise anyone how to do anything,” she said. “I don’t want to come out publicly and give advice about mothering.”

In a world where parents are constantly shamed and judged for their choices (breast versus bottle, crib versus co-sleeping, helicopter versus free-range ... where does it end?), Fisher said the last thing we need is one more voice telling parents they might be doing it all wrong.

“Everyone is doing their best,” she said.

Fisher is totally right — the onslaught of well-meaning parenting advice can be counterproductive for parents and kids.

You've heard of imposter syndrome — the constant fear that you're not good enough and will eventually be "found out" by everyone. Well, parents get it too.

Babies don't come home from the hospital with instruction manuals. We buy some in the form of dozens of parenting books. We browse Facebook and Instagram where our friends preach the methods that have worked for them. We turn on the TV and listen to celeb parents who seem to have all the answers.

Much of what we read and hear is contradictory, leaving us even more confused than before.

Fisher should be applauded for refusing to take part.Science shows that celebrities wield an extraordinary level of influence over people due to their status, and while that influence can be used to promote good causes and raise awareness of issues, it can just as easily create noise and confusion.

There's a lot that parents need to know. But the most important thing, as Fisher suggests, is doing your best and finding your own way.

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This 'Parks and Rec' star came out in a powerfully candid must-read essay.

'You're not bad. You're not unholy. You're exactly what God intended you to be.'

On "Parks and Recreation," Natalie Morales' character, Lucy, was the confident, funny girlfriend every fan was rooting for. Behind closed doors, however, Morales wasn't always the self-assured star she became on screen.

The 32-year-old came out as queer in a new essay for Amy Poehler's Smart Girls. In the powerfully personal piece, Morales discussed the confusion and pain she had to overcome as a teen who found herself attracted to both girls and boys, and why — as an actor who values her privacy — she chose to come out in such a public way.

"I thought I was sick," Morales wrote. "I know I thought something was really wrong with me. I was ashamed and I thought I was dirty."

Falling for another girl in high school was a beautiful thing, Morales recalled, but it also came with an onslaught of shameful feelings.

She continued:

"I knew that the church said it was wrong and that God said it was wrong (even though I couldn’t exactly figure out why, if it wasn’t hurting anyone). I was told bisexuals were degenerates who are selfish and just want the best of both worlds. I was told gay men are fine because they’re funny and have good taste, but lesbian women are wastes of space. I was told the idea of two women kissing was disgusting.”

Now an adult who's more comfortable in her own skin, Morales hopes her own story inspires all of us to act and think differently — whether we're LGBTQ or not.

Photo by Randy Shropshire/Getty Images.

"The reason I decided to share this ... is because even though me telling you I’m queer might not be a big deal these days, things are still pretty bad out there for people like me," she wrote.

"There are gay concentration camps in Chechnya where people are being tortured right this second," Morales noted of the human rights abuses quietly taking place halfway around the world.

You don't have to cross an ocean to see how bigotry causes real harm, though, she noted:

"In our very country, 49 people were killed and 58 people were wounded just last year because they were dancing in a gay club. Our safe spaces are not safe. I think it’s important that I tell you that this familiar face you see on your TV is the Q part of LGBTQ, so that if you didn’t know someone who was queer before, you do now."

Morales' point touches on an important finding: Research shows that when you personally know someone who is LGBTQ, you're far more likely to support their rights. When we see queer people as fully human and deserving of respect, that means fewer stories like the atrocities developing in Chechnya or the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting. Coming out still makes a difference.

"You're not bad," Morales concluded in her essay. "You're not unholy. You're exactly what God intended you to be."

It's a message she wishes she understood a long time ago, Morales said after her essay spread far and wide.

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Janelle Monáe nailed why it's so vital that women be in control of their choices.

How did Janelle Monáe go from being a poor young girl in Kansas City to one of Hollywood's breakout stars of 2016?

According to the music artist and actor, harnessing creativity, finding her confidence, and embracing the power of control were a few key factors.

Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for TNT​.

In Marie Claire's "2017 Fresh Faces" issue, Monáe opened up on a lot of different issues, like being a black woman in Hollywood — "We have to realize our power and our magic," she noted — and how poverty became her unlikely "superpower" as a kid — "Being poor helped me be more creative," she explained.

One of the more telling tidbits from the interview was Monáe's take on the importance of women having the control to be themselves in a world that's relentlessly trying to mold them into something different.

As she explained:

"It is important for women to be [in control], especially when gender norms and conformity are pushed upon us. Women automatically are told that this is how you should look. This is how you should get a man. This is how you should get a woman. You need to fit into all these boxes to be accepted. I don't subscribe to that way of thinking. ... I believe in embracing what makes you unique even if it makes others uncomfortable. I have learned there is power in saying no. I have agency. I get to decide."

So far, Monáe's decisions have shown she's a creative force to be reckoned with.

Monae, already a Grammy-nominated R&B, soul, and pop music artist, made waves on the big screen last year for her performances in "Hidden Figures" and "Moonlight," which were both nominated for Best Picture at the 2017 Oscars ("Moonlight," in spectacular fashion, won).

The star, who'd garnered few acting accolades prior to 2016, was celebrated as a force on screen in the two films, which, each in their own way, addressed race, sexuality, gender, and class in America's past and present.

Monáe portrayed Mary Jackson, who'd been a standout engineer at NASA, in "Hidden Figures." Photo by Hopper Stone.

Some music fans may have been pleasantly surprised at Monáe's seamless transition into a Hollywood star. But following her own unconventional path seems to be what Monáe does best: "I don't think we all have to take the same coordinates to reach the same destination," she told Marie Claire.

Spoken like a true trailblazer.

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