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In a recent interview with Kristen Welker on Meet the Press, Selma Blair revealed that when she was seeking medical help for her chronic pain before her multiple sclerosis diagnosis, her doctor suggested she get a boyfriend.
The actor said she was lost on how to receive that "advice" from a medical professional.
“I just cried."
“I had no capability to process. ‘What am I supposed to do with this information?’"
"I knew the pain was real. I thought it was. But I did start to convince myself, ‘You’re overly sensitive. There’s nothing wrong with you. Get it together, you lazy, lazy whatever.’”
Blair also detailed that particular incident in her 2022 book Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up, writing:
“One doctor went so far as to tell me I might feel better if I had a boyfriend."
“Through all the symptoms, all the visits, I never once had an MRI. The only doctor who had mentioned multiple sclerosis as a possibility was my eye doctor, who saw me for eye pain when I was 22.”
This revelation opened up a discussion with Welker on gender bias in healthcare, with Blair noting doctors were “really just not seeing me.”
“And it was a gender bias, a lot of it, because there would be a boy in my grade that would go in for the exact same chronic headache and fever, and he is in surgery and an MRI within the week."
“But they just said, ‘Oh, just dramatic,’ you know?”
You can watch the clip below.
Selma Blair on how doctors dismissed her early pain, illnessyoutu.be
Blair also shared with Welker that many of her symptoms were attributed to being a developing woman, per her doctors.
“I think primarily when I was young….they were all older male doctors who probably did not know the intricacies of a girl and that everything does not need to be blamed on menstruation.”
Blair added that MS is unique to each individual, and those who have not experienced the symptoms may not recognize them.
“They can be disguised as emotional things. I have prefrontal damage that would cause hysterical crying and laughing."
Many viewers shared similar stories of gender bias in healthcare, several adding that illnesses without visible symptoms are often dismissed.
NBC News/YouTube
NBC News/YouTube
NBC News/YouTube
NBC News/YouTube
NBC News/YouTube
NBC News/YouTube
NBC News/YouTube
NBC News/YouTube
The actor was officially diagnosed with MS in 2018 and entered remission in 2021.
Viewers expressed joy that Blair had found some relief.
NBC News/YouTube
NBC News/YouTube
NBC News/YouTube
We applaud Blair for spreading awareness about her disease in an effort to help others and for speaking out against gender bias in healthcare.