Childhood and youth
Selma Blair Beutner was born on June 23, 1972 in the small town of Southfield, Michigan. Selma is the youngest of four daughters of Judge Molly Ann and Elliot E. Beutner, a lawyer, active member of the Democratic Party of the United States and a labor arbitrator. The girl's sisters are Katherine, Elizabeth and Marie.
Selma Blair comes from a traditional Jewish family
The actress comes from a traditional Jewish family, but religious principles did not help the girl’s parents save their marriage. When Selma was 23, Molly and Elliot divorced. The actress maintains a good relationship with her mother, who, just as hard as her daughters, experienced the loss of her ex-husband in 2012.
Selma Blair in her youth
After graduating from Hillel Hebrew School, Selma attended Kalamazoo College, where she studied photography. At the same time, the girl became interested in theater. According to Blair, her first attempt at participating in a theater production was a complete failure, but the teacher advised the girl not to give up. It was then that Selma first thought about becoming an actress in the future. At the same time, the girl did not abandon her childhood dreams of becoming a ballerina or a bereytor (horse trainer).
Selma first thought about her career as an actress in college.
In 1994, Selma graduated from college with a bachelor's degree in photography, psychology, fine arts and English, and moved to New York, where she initially lived with members of the Christian organization The Salvation Army. She initially thought about working towards a career in photography, but gradually acting began to take precedence over the lens. She began taking lessons in two theater studios in parallel.
“I couldn’t overcome my fear for a long time”
#10yearchallenge: 2009 - 2019
In communication with “fellow sufferers” who leave comments on her Instagram, Selma Blair discusses various treatment tactics and shares her personal experience. She recently admitted that she is starting therapy with the drug Tysabri, and hopes that this will help slow down the progression of the disease.
Selma also said that she was diagnosed at one of the New York medical centers specializing in the treatment of multiple sclerosis - Tisch MS Recerch Center. This medical institution, based at the Neurological Institute of Columbia University, has been operating since 2006. The center is famous for its individual approach to each patient: before eliminating symptoms, doctors try to understand what kind of “breakdown” in the body led to multiple sclerosis and caused the immune system to attack the cells of its own body.
Another piece of advice that Selma received from her subscribers and which she promises to follow is about drinking freshly squeezed celery juice. Today this remedy is experiencing a real boom - supporters of a healthy lifestyle in the USA recommend drinking this juice on an empty stomach every day. Fans of the actress told her that celery helps cope with such an unpleasant symptom of multiple sclerosis as constant temperature fluctuations - this is what Selma complains about in one of her posts. Turmeric, another well-known superfood, should also help ease her condition.
But what will ease the emotional distress? Anxiety and depression are constant companions of multiple sclerosis. The patient is frightened by the future, the uncertainty of the prognosis, and possible helplessness. If you believe Selma's confession, these feelings turned out to be even more painful in some ways than what was happening to her body.
“I was sad for a very long time,” the actress said last Thanksgiving, admitting that the process of accepting the diagnosis dragged on for several months. Selma Blair ultimately did not invent anything new. I just decided one day to leave everything as it was and hope for the best. She enjoys the little things - a weekend spent with her son, a walk with her beloved dog, a Christmas tree, a party with friends. When she gets sad, she changes her hairstyle or buys a new outfit. Finds happiness in memories. And he admits: he is in a hurry to live here and now. “Now is the best time to confess your love to the one you love,” she writes on her blog. “You are hope and inspiration for us,” subscribers answer her.
Actor career
Selma got her first film role in 1995. The aspiring actress played in an episode of the children's series “The Adventures of Pete and Pete.” The following year, the girl made her debut in the feature film “The Broccoli Theory,” a kind of “non-romantic New York comedy.” However, all these films passed the viewer by.
Blair played her first role in 1995
During this period in Selma's life there were many unpleasant moments. In 2017, in the wake of the scandal surrounding the figure of Harvey Weinstein, who demanded intimacy from actresses for lucrative roles, Blair spoke about her similar experience from those years. Director James Toback offered her the same “deal”: he made an appointment with her in a hotel room, then tried to convince her to undress, and when the actress refused, he began to threaten her and blocked the exit. He threatened to order the murder of Selma's father, then began to threaten her herself. In the end, Selma decided that it would be better to agree and let the director masturbate while she stood nearby and watched. The experience of filming the comedy “In and Out” (1997) with Joan Cusack, Matt Dillon and Kevin Kline also turned out to be unsuccessful. She auditioned for her role six times, spent several weeks on set, but in the end most of her scenes were cut. But the film itself was a success and even an Oscar nomination.
Selma Blair on the red carpet
Despite the difficulties and humiliations that the young actress had to put up with, there were also positive moments. A much more successful experience for Selma was the leading role in the teen drama Strong Island Boys (1997), based on real events. Her acting was praised by the famous Alec Baldwin, calling the girl “a mixture of Debra Winger and Marlene Dietrich.”
The beginning of her career as an actress was a series of trials
In 2000, Blair was cast as Joey Potter in the teen series Dawson's Creek, but was later replaced by Katie Holmes. Shortly after this, the actress was cast for the lead role in the fantasy series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but Sarah Michelle Gellar was chosen instead.
Failures did not break Selma - patience and work allowed her to wait for the triumph that came in her career after the release of the drama “Cruel Intentions” (1999). The plot of the film revolves around representatives of the golden youth of New York played by Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe.
Cruel Intentions (1999) - trailer in Russian Blair played an innocent student in the film who is manipulated by her classmates. According to the plot, her heroine was 14, while the actress herself was already over 25, but the audience did not think about the age difference - Selma was so convincing in the role of Cecile with her emphatically innocent appearance and school outfits.
Young Selma Blair in the movie Cruel Intentions
The film received mixed reviews, with some critics noting that Blair "overdid the acting." Nevertheless, the film - and it was the first American film of this scale in which two girls kissed - earned an impressive $75.9 million at the international box office and brought Blair several film awards.
Selma's popularity grew rapidly in the early 2000s.
Selma's career skyrocketed. Many films of the early 2000s with her participation are well remembered and still loved: “Only You and Me” (2000), “Legally Blonde” (2001), “Cutie” (2002), “Hellboy: Hero from Hell” (2004) and many others. Magazines fought to place photos of the actress on their covers - in particular, a portrait of a girl graced the cover of the cult publication Rolling Stone. 2007 was a particularly fruitful year for Blair, when 7 films with her participation were released at once (House of Poker, Odnoklassniki, etc.).
Hellboy: Selma Blair as Liz Sherman
An important work for the actress was the role of Liz Sherman, a fictional character from the Hellboy comic book series, the girlfriend of the main character, a “good” demon from Hell in the service of the US government. From 2004 to 2008, Selma played the character twice in films and voiced the character twice in animated films. "Hellboy" 2004 - trailer By the end of the 2000s, Selma's popularity waned somewhat. She began to appear in films less often, and in TV series she only got small roles. But the series Anger Management, which was launched in the summer of 2012, changed everything. The story is based on the 2003 film of the same name - the hero of actor Charlie Sheen has much in common with the hero of Jack Nicholson in this film.
Selma Blair as Kris Jenner (left) and her real-life counterpart
Then two more years of silence followed, until in 2020 the actress, to everyone’s surprise, appeared as socialite Kris Jenner in the drama series American Crime Story. The first season of the series revealed the story of the scandalous case of football player O. J. Simpson (Cube Gooding Jr.), the alleged killer of his own wife and an accidental witness. Selma's on-screen husband, as well as the athlete's best friend and lawyer, Robert Kardashian (father of Kim, Kourtney, Khloe and Robert Kardashian), was played by "Friends" star David Schwimmer.
Seriously ill Selma Blair was almost killed by chemotherapy: “This is a cure for multiple sclerosis”
American actress Selma Blair, known for her work “Cruel Intentions”, “Legally Blonde”, “Anger Management” and others, for the first time in a long time revealed details of the treatment of her illness. The celebrity has been suffering from multiple sclerosis for many years.
Photo: https://www.instagram.com/selmablair
A year ago, Selma Blair surprised fans with a confession: the actress has been suffering from multiple sclerosis for 15 years. Symptoms of the disease appeared year after year, but the star did not attach any importance to this until she was diagnosed in August 2020.
Due to health problems, the movie star had to give up working in films. For the last couple of years, she has hardly acted anywhere, but at the same time she continued to lead a public life.
Selma occasionally attends social events and actively maintains a microblog on Instagram, where she often shares details of her personal life and her fight against the disease. Thus, the actress recently became a speaker at the TIME 100 Health Summit forum in New York. During her speech, Blair spoke about “aggressive” treatment for multiple sclerosis.
Photo: https://www.instagram.com/selmablair
Treatments for my illness were not working, and my condition was deteriorating much faster than was acceptable.
In search of options to combat the disease, doctors offered the actress a stem cell transplant and an “aggressive” course of chemotherapy. In this way they wanted to “restart” her immune system. Blair was wary of such methods, but after a small dose of radiation her condition improved. In the end, Selma decided to take the entire course.
I thought that I didn’t want to destroy my body, what was left of it. Why did I need to be given this terrible drug - chemotherapy? I don't have cancer! But I had no choice.
As a result of complex therapy, the actress also lost her hair. However, she does not lose heart and continues to look stylish and beautiful. This can be seen, at least, in her stylish look for the forum - the star wore a pink trouser suit, a black shirt and matching pumps.
Photo: https://www.instagram.com/selmablair
Before the stem cell transplant, Selma had to undergo chemotherapy. During the treatment, the specialists’ main method was to “almost kill” the patient.
I was warned that you seem to be making plans for death. I told my son I was going to do this and he said he wanted me to be cremated. They give you stronger chemotherapy than cancer patients, because the essence is to almost kill you. And it is stem cells that allow you to live with so much chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is a cure for multiple sclerosis,
— Selma concluded about the struggle with her diagnosis.
Photo: https://www.instagram.com/selmablair
For those who don't know, Blair was discharged from the hospital in July 2020 after another course of chemotherapy. As a result, she became bald. The star is also forced to walk with a cane in her hands.
Blair is now regaining consciousness, but is not yet talking about a full recovery. The actress is only about. By the way, when Selma first talked about the disease, she described the consequences as follows:
I am disabled. Sometimes I fall or drop things. I'm having memory problems, my mind is foggy, and the left side of my body is acting like a broken GPS. But we can handle it. And I laugh, not knowing what I will do next, but I know for sure that I will do my best.
Photo: https://www.instagram.com/selmablair
Despite her illness, Selma Blair tries to be strong and enjoy simple things. She is supported by her son Arthur, friends and fans. We also wish the actress a speedy recovery.
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Personal life of Selma Blair
At the peak of her popularity, Selma had several colorful romances. In particular, she dated the famous actor Jason Schwartzman for about a year.
Selma Blair and Jason Schwartzman
In January 2004, after a six-month romance, Blair married writer and producer Ahmet Zappa. The newlyweds purchased a luxurious house in Los Angeles, but Selma failed to create a family home - 2.5 years later the couple filed for divorce.
Selma Blair and Ahmet Zapp
Her colleague, actor and comedian Mikey Day helped the actress survive her personal drama. But Selma did not get along with him either, and two years later the lovers broke up. Selma soon became infatuated with singer Josh Groban, and then fell head over heels in love with fashion designer Jason Blick.
Selma Blair and Jason Blick with son Arthur
In July 2011, the couple had a son, Arthur St. Blick. However, their common child and everyday life could not keep Selma and Jason together, and in the fall of 2012 they separated.
In the mid-2010s, Selma was often seen with Canadian musician David Foster, but it was only a fleeting romance. Selma is now dating Australian actor David Lyons, star of the TV series Sea Patrol.
Selma Blair in 2018
In October 2020, Blair was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The diagnosis finally explained her frequent falls, poor memory and problems with the left side of her body.
Selma Blair now
On April 18, 2020, the melodrama “After,” based on the bestseller of the same name by Anna Todd, was released on Russian screens. The film tells the story of teenagers in love - shy Tessa (Josephine Langford) and rebel Hardin (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin), whose passionate romance becomes a fatal event for both. Selma Blair played one of the key characters.
Selma Blair now
It is known that Selma Blair, along with Katee Sackhoff and Justin Chatwin, will star in the drama series “Another Life” about astronauts investigating the origin of an alien artifact. The actress can also be seen in the crime drama Grand Illusion about a former FBI agent who painfully experiences the kidnapping of his sister and suffers from nyctophobia: an irrational fear of the dark.
