Selma Blair on competing on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ with MS: ‘With support, it’s amazing what we can do’
“This week, this year, this month have been so full of so much love,” Selma Blair told Extra about her season premiere Viennese waltz with pro partner Sasha Farber on “Dancing with the Stars” (watch her interview above). “It felt like a fairy tale.”
Blair’s performance on the show was moving and meaningful because of the quality of her performance but also because of what she had to overcome to deliver it. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2016 and walks with a cane, so “to leave it behind and say, okay, I’m gonna have a person support me now, it’s a totally new thing physically. It really is.”
“You really created magic tonight,” said judge Bruno Tonioli. “You danced that like a true artist,” Carrie Ann Inaba added, on the verge of tears. Len Goodman, usually the toughest judge on the panel, called her “lovely” and “lyrical.” And Derek Hough‘s only note was that he wished the performance had been longer. The cameras even caught some of her opponents in tears, including celebrity contestant Jordin Sparks and professional dancer Pasha Pashkov.
“I think people might look at MS or chronic illness as one thing,” Blair points out, “but all of us in that community know it’s as varied as everyone else everywhere, and with support it’s amazing what we can do.” What Blair did was score sevens across the board, which was good enough to tie her for third place on the leaderboard, and when that was added to the votes of viewers at home, she advanced to the next round of the competition.
Be sure to make your predictions so that the contestants can see how they’re faring in our racetrack odds. You can keep changing your predictions until just before the next episode airs every Monday on ABC. You’ll compete to win a spot on our leaderboard and eternal bragging rights. See our contest rules and sound off with other fans in our reality TV forum. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.