Selma Blair says she hid MS symptoms on Hellboy set for fear of being an ‘insurance risk’
Selma Blair has revealed she hid her multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms on the set of 2004 hellboy for fear of being labeled an “insurance risk”.
Blair played arsonist Liz Sherman in the original 2004 film – written and directed by Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro – opposite Ron Perlman in the title role.
Blair was diagnosed with MS in 2018 after a long illness.
In a new interview with British Vogueshe recalled being afraid that her illnesses, which she didn’t know at the time were related to MS, would “pull me out of the workforce.”
“The sets were excruciating at times with the exhaustion and the tics,” Blair said. “I’ve been on benzos and klonopin [a medication used to prevent seizures and anxiety disorders]. I haven’t abused these things, only alcohol. But I was lost and sad and could hardly ever smile. So I imagine my roles.”
She continued: “I remember [feeling] very, very bad hellboy and was diagnosed with cat scratch fever and possible leukemia in Prague.
“I couldn’t tell anyone. I could not admit to alcoholism or [access] Treatment under my insurance for fear I would be seen as an insurance risk. When I got back to LA, I broke down.”
(Getty)
The 50-year-old actor previously said doctors initially thought her MS symptoms were “psychosomatic” and misdiagnosed her for years.
After being correctly diagnosed in 2018, Blair said she felt “relieved” but also “a little bit panicked, how am I going to have the energy to ever even deal with this?”
She often speaks about living with MS, a lifelong condition that can affect the brain and spinal cord and cause a variety of symptoms. It can sometimes lead to severe disabilities.
In August 2021, Blair announced that she was in remission after undergoing a hematopoietic stem cell transplant.
