Selma Blair Reveals She Attempted Suicide Before MS Diagnosis

American actress Selma Blair has opened up about a tumultuous point in her life where she attempted suicide while living with the effects of multiple sclerosis without knowing.

The actress shared that she tried to cover up her health complications and resorted to self-medication to ease the pain, also noting that she used alcohol to deal with the constant headaches she felt.

Blair previously revealed that she attempted suicide in college after her then-boyfriend broke up with her but decided against it at the last minute.

Read on for more details.

The "Brown's Requiem" actress, 50, spoke candidly about her health complications in an interview with British Vogue Magazine, where she revealed she lived with multiple sclerosis years before it was diagnosed.

Blair, who lost the use of her right eye, left leg, and bladder when she was seven, told the publication that several symptoms of the disease manifested in its early stages but were not addressed.

She explained that her constant need for help sometimes triggered her mom, causing her to be labeled an "attention-seeker."

"If you're a boy with those symptoms, you get an MRI. If you're a girl, you're called 'crazy,'" she told the publication.

Blair's undiagnosed multiple sclerosis caused damage to her frontal lobe—the equivalent of a brain injury. She quipped, "I looked like a 'normal' girl to them, but I was disabled this whole time." 

The "Anger Management" alum lived in excruciating pain and contemplated suicide because it took 40 years for her MS to be discovered, according to British Vogue.

Blair shared that she lived with the disease all those years, often had to cover up the symptoms while working on set and self-medicate to ease the pain.

"As an adult, the lassitude and anxiety became terrifying. I made mistakes. I wished myself dead. I attempted suicide a few times. Out of desperation," she shared.

"Sets were excruciating sometimes with the exhaustion and the tics. I took Benzos and Klonopin," the "Hellboy" actress added, referring to medications that prevent seizures and anxiety disorders.

Blair shared that she was "sad" and "lost" in those hard times and tried her best to cover it, explaining that she was terrified of being "found out," per British Vogue.

"I remember being very, very poorly on 'Hellboy' and was diagnosed with cat scratch fever and possible leukemia in Prague," she recounted. "I couldn't tell anybody. I couldn't admit alcoholism or access treatment in my insurance, fearing I'd be deemed an insurance risk. I fell apart once I got back to LA."

During a recent interview with SELF Magazine, Blair revealed that her MS caused her severe pain throughout middle school and that she had to resort to alcohol as a form of "self-medication" to deal with the pain.

The "In Good Company" actress recalled a specific incident when she first drank so much alcohol that she lost consciousness and said, "It took away pain like no other until the next day."

Her alcohol addiction worsened over time, making her vulnerable to predators who took advantage of her and raped her when she was too drunk to fight them off.

"I have been raped multiple times because I was too drunk to say the words 'Please stop,'" she said per the Daily Mail.

At some point in her life, Blair considered taking her life after a bad breakup with her boyfriend in college.

The actress opened up about her relationship with her physical education horse trainer, Todd, where she stated that she didn't know how to deal with the breakup and tried to end her life.

She reportedly sneaked into his room and took a bottle of Tylenol and tequila but opted against it at the last minute when she was about to pass out.

The painful days of unknowingly suffering from MS are behind Blair, as her disease is now in remission, and she has stopped losing abilities, according to the Daily Mail.

The actress-turned-advocate has been so loud about her message for inclusivity that she even had to write her memoir, Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up, an attempt to tackle the labels she's been branded with.

Blair, who had a stem cell transplant in 2019 to treat MS, told ELLE she is now committed to living her best life. She is also aware of the impact her visibility and influence have on raising awareness for the disabled community.

"I didn't imagine I could ever make a difference by showing up as myself and being open about my experiences. But when others with mobility aids rallied around my presence on the red carpet with a cane and amid an MS flare, I noticed. I felt empowered to share... Now it's a conscious choice to," she said.