Selma Blair Says She Got More Chemo To Treat Her MS Than Most Cancer Patients Undergo

Photo credit: Craig Barritt - Getty Images
Photo credit: Craig Barritt - Getty Images

From Prevention

  • Selma Blair opened up about undergoing chemotherapy for multiple sclerosis at the Time 100 Health Summit.

  • The actress revealed she and her son planned for her death before starting chemo.

  • Selma says she "had more chemo than they usually do for cancer patients, because they almost kill you."


Selma Blair, 47, has been super open about her life with multiple sclerosis on her Instagram over the last year. The actress took her personal story to a bigger stage at the Time 100 Health Summit this week and revealed more about her treatment.

Selma discussed why she turned to chemotherapy and what the treatment was really like on a panel. “The disease modifiers did not work for me at the time, and I was really declining more rapidly than I found acceptable,” Selma shared. “I had no intention of doing it, I was like, I’m not ruining my body, what’s left of it. Why would I put this horrible drug, chemotherapy, in me? I don’t have cancer. But I was kind of out of options and I was looking.”

Selma continued to explain the potential side effects of the chemotherapy. “I was warned,” she said. “You kind of make your plans for death, [and] I told my son I was doing this and he said he wanted me cremated. I had more chemo than they usually do for cancer patients, because they almost kill you. And it’s the stem cell that allows you to live with that amount of chemo. The chemo is the MS cure, if it does in fact happen.”

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Pose. 💕 #christiandior

A post shared by Selma Blair (@selmablair) on Oct 17, 2019 at 10:39am PDT

Following the chemotherapy and stem cell treatment, Selma revealed she is still recovering. “I haven’t talked about it much yet because I wanted to show everyone that the proof is in the pudding, but my pudding is still kind of scrambled. I don’t want to scare people away."


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