Selma Blair Is Just the Latest ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Contestant to Bow Out For Health Reasons
Selma Blair saddened fans when she bowed out of the latest season of Dancing With the Stars because of her worsening health. The Cruel Intentions actor danced a waltz in a final performance in the fifth episode of Season 31. However, earlier in the week, she told her professional dancing partner, Sasha Farber, that her multiple sclerosis symptoms were going to force her to withdraw from the show.
Though Blair is the latest DWTS contestant to leave the dancing competition because of illness, she’s not the only one who has left because of health concerns. In fact, some seasons have included contestants who don’t even make it out of rehearsals and into the live shows.
Selma Blair competed on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Season 31 despite her multiple sclerosis
Blair, who is also known for acting in Legally Blonde and the Hellboy franchise, announced that she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2018. “I was sick for so many years,” Blair said of her experience, per NPR. “I was searching and searching for how to help myself … so to get the diagnosis in 2018 of MS was a huge relief. It was the beginning of recovery as a person.”
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic illness that affects the central nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. The body’s immune system begins to attack the protective sheath (called myelin) that covers nerve fibers, Mayo Clinic explains. Eventually, the disease can cause permanent nerve damage and deterioration. There is no cure for MS, but there are treatments to help reduce the severity of flare-ups.
Blair scored in third place during the premiere week of Season 31. “I have underestimated me in the past and I have proved myself wrong. So don’t underestimate me,” Blair said on the show, per CNN.
Despite a strong showing and winning over scores of fans, the intensity of participating in the show took its toll on the actor. Blair withdrew from the show following the show’s fifth episode. “I’ve been monitored and in touch with my doctors this whole process. I had these MRI’s and the results came back, and it just all adds up to, I can’t … I can’t go on with the competition,” she told Farber during a rehearsal. “Pushed as far as I could.”
Other competitors have left from illness or injury in previous seasons
Blair is the first person to leave DWTS in Season 31 because of injury or illness. But previous seasons have included a number of dropouts. Olympian Misty May-Treanor (Season 7) ruptured her Achilles tendon in rehearsals and withdrew in the third week of her competition, according to Dance Dish Media. Tom DeLay started Season 9 with a suspected stress fracture in one foot, but by Week 4, that had developed into a full fracture in each foot, and he had to withdraw. Tamar Braxton made it to Week 9, but withdrew from Season 21 after being diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism in her lungs.
Some competitors sustained injuries that kept them from competing at all. Nancy O’Dell tore the meniscus in her knee in the leadup to Season 8, and she never made it to the live shows. That season, Jewel was also supposed to compete against her then-husband, Ty Murray, but fractured the tibias in both of her legs during the rehearsals and could not continue dancing. Christie Brinkley broke her arm in a fall during pre-show rehearsals and required surgery in Season 28.
Other dancing injuries sustained while competing on the show took out other contestants over the years. Dorothy Hamill was a fan favorite in Season 16, but sustained a severe back injury and could not continue past the first two episodes. NFL player Ray Lewis (Season 28) aggravated an old football injury and required surgery on ruptured tendons in his foot. He also didn’t make it far into the season, as he had to leave before Week 3.
Fans and celebrities wished Selma Blair well after she danced her last waltz on the show
Blair said that despite needing to withdraw because of worsening health concerns in Season 31, the competition helped with her mobility and physically strengthened her in ways she hadn’t expected. “I’m so much better, and I would have never had the motivation to push myself in that way if it weren’t for this kind of thing,” Blair told Entertainment Tonight.
Many of Blair’s fellow competitors wished her well on the actor’s Instagram page. It was clear from the footage of Blair’s final performance that she made an impact on the cast. In fact, several were in tears watching her swan song on the dance floor. Other fans who watched Blair in the competition thanked her for her example. “You were so graceful and elegant and are such an iconic and beautiful role model for everyone especially those who live with MS,” one fan wrote.
