People USA – August 05, 2019

longtime assistant Bonny Burke. After her diag-

nosis Blair’s closest friends rallied around her.

“They’ve stood up in ways I never would have been

comfortable with before,” she says. Her Cruel Inten-

tions costar and friend of 20 years Sarah Michelle

Gellar started and continues to provide a weekly

“food train” for Blair and Arthur, while Jaime King

sends her “gorgeous” flower arrangements every

week. “I get weekend meal packs like I’ve never

feasted on before from Reese Witherspoon, from

Constance Zimmer and so many people I don’t even

know through Sarah. Her friends are just doing this

to feed me and Arthur.” Blair’s friends’ regular visits

nourish them in other ways too. “It’s so important

for my son to see me interacting with people and to

see Mom laughing with them.” In being “forced to

open up and allow people in,” Blair hopes that she’s

turned over a new social leaf. “I’m going to have to

remember on days that I feel better to reach out

to them. Like, ‘Hey, can you still come around?

Because you’re my friends and I still need you.’ ”

Her eating habits had to change.

Before her diagnosis, Blair admits, she “never ate.

I’d pick at what I made for Arthur, but I never ate.”

While her MS has negatively affected her appetite

and diaphragm reflexes, resulting in her feeling

nauseated more often than not, Blair knows nutri-

tion has to be a priority. “I drink bulletproof coffee

[in which coffee is blended with grass-fed butter

or ghee], because I’m all for lipids for the brain,”

she says. “I drink celery juice because people tell

me to, and beet kvass [a salty probiotic tonic of cul-

tured beets], which is amazing. But I don’t have

an appetite. I feel like throwing up all the time.”

She wants to make a difference.

Living with a disease has taught Blair about what

isn’t available to fellow MS patients as well as oth-

ers who are struggling—and she wants to change

that. “I want to get Alinkers to people who need

them. For people who are housebound, I want to

THE BIKE

THAT’S CHANGING LIVES

The Alinker is a pedal-free, three-wheel walking bike

that helps people with mobility issues continue to be

active with much less effort and muscle strain than

standard walkers, thanks to its adjustable seat and

handlebars. “It’s about people getting their lives back,”

says designer and founder B.E. Alink, who hopes the

$1,977 bikes will one day be covered by insurance. Until

then Alink and Blair support crowdfunding campaigns

for people who need them: “Sixteen campaigns reached

their goal so far, and 11 more are live.”

make their houses beautiful and also accessible,”

she says. “I want to help people get insurance to

cover them; to help make an accessible clothing

line a possibility.”

She has no plans to quit acting

anytime soon.

Since coming forward with her diagnosis, Blair

has been approached for more acting work than

she ever expected. “I’m so grateful. The problem is

that I have f------ MS, so I can’t do it all,” she notes

with a laugh. “Michael J. Fox told me that when he

was shooting a show with Parkinson’s, there was

that reality he forgot about: He has f------ Par-

kinson’s. It’s hard to shoot a show.” Blair intends

to continue to do as much as she can, especially

for those who have embraced and championed

her abilities post-diagnosis, like the Another Life

cast and crew. “To have people believe in you gives

you so much more strength than I realized,” she

says. “I never asked that from people before, and

I need it now.” •

‘I feel more

comfortable

in my skin

now, even if my

actual skin is

uncomfortable’

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Selma Blair

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48 August 5, 2019 PEOPLE

Blair and

Alink in

June 2019.

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