“Everything does not need to be blamed on menstruation.”
While five years have passed since Selma Blair first opened up about living with multiple sclerosis, the actress just shared new details about the exhausting process that led up to her diagnosis in 2018 — including the demeaning comments she received from her doctors.
In a new interview with Meet the Press, Blair discussed what it was like working with “older male doctors who really probably did not know the intricacies of a girl.” Sitting down with Kristen Walker, the actress got candid about her early MS symptoms — which were originally brushed off as standard menstrual issues — while also recounting a time when a doctor suggested she get a boyfriend to help deal with chronic pain.
“I think primarily when I was young … they were all older male doctors who probably did not know the intricacies of a girl and that everything does not need to be blamed on menstruation,” she said of her early symptoms, adding that she “just cried” in response the boyfriend comment.
“I had no capability to process. ‘What am I supposed to do with this information?’ I knew the pain was real. I thought it was. But I did start to convince myself, ‘You’re overly sensitive. There’s nothing wrong with you. Get it together, you lazy, lazy whatever.’”
Blair added that the experience resulted in “so much medical trauma” due to doctors “taking advantage of that time” and “really just not seeing me.”
“I’ve been advocating for myself for a long time, trying to find what was ailing me, why I was not able to keep up with anyone really my entire life,” she shared. “And it was a gender bias, a lot of it, because there would be a boy in my grade that would go in for the exact same chronic headache and fever, and he is in surgery and an MRI within the week. But they just said, ‘Oh, [you’re] just dramatic,’ you know?”
Selma’s comments come years after she first revealed her diagnosis via Instagram post in Oct. 2018, writing, “I have #multiplesclerosis. I am in an exacerbation … I have MS and I am OK. But if you see me, dropping crap all over the street, feel free to help me pick it up. It takes a whole day for me alone. Thank you and may we all know good days amongst the challenges.”