Selma Blair Exits ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Due to MRI Results, Delivers One Last Beautiful Dance

Selma Blair is giving her final bow on Dancing With the Stars. On Monday’s episode, the Cruel Intentions actress revealed that she could no longer continue the dance competition due to her ongoing battle with multiple sclerosis.

“So, I’ve been monitored… I had MRIs and the results came back, and it all adds up to, I can’t go on with the competition,” Blair revealed to her dance partner, Sasha Farber. “I’ve pushed as far as I could. With a chronic illness, you do have special considerations, and my body has taken a hit. It’s way too much for the safety of my bones. I could do extensive damage that I, of course, do not want.”

Blair still was committed to doing one last dance with Farber, a Waltz set to “What the World Needs Now Is Love” by Andra Day.

“I really want to have one last beautiful dance with you, and bow out,” she continued. “So, this is a dance for everyone that has tried and hoped they could do more, but also, the power in realizing it’s time to walk away. I am so, so grateful to be able to do one last gentle dance.”

Everyone in the ballroom was in tears after the package, as the pair took the stage to perform one last time.

The judges shared their feedback for the pair after their emotional, final dance, praising Blair and thanking her for sharing her journey with the DWTS and the world.

“This competition is tough for everyone, but if the others have climbed hills, you have climbed mountains,” Len Goodman shared, with Derek Hough adding, “You’ve brought nothing but joy to everyone, always with a smile… thank you for sharing this journey with us all.”

Judge Bruno Tonioli, meanwhile called Blair an inspiration to “millions,” while Carrie Ann Inaba said watching Blair dance has been like watching a “living breathing, elegantly dancing miracle.”

“You are a blessing and a gift,” Inaba added.

The 50-year-old actress spoke to the audience one last time, telling host Alfonso Ribeiro that it’s been heartwarming to see the audience react to her and Farber’s efforts on the dance floor.

“I don’t think people understand what this show means to us here, especially this season… and to see the audience react to each and every one of us and our efforts, it’s so heartening. I wish I could stay and learn… I am so proud of everyone and I am so proud of this audience for seeing us,” Blair said. 

As for her decision to step away, she added that she didn’t want to push herself physically to a place that she could not come back from.

“I came into the competition late, and I had really been on almost bed rest… for 10 years. So, I definitely was so excited to get into being so active and learning something… But it is a lot on your body, and it’s so hard for me to take care, because I don’t want to,” she insisted. “I so want to be here. I am a mom, and I don’t want to be laid up again because I’m afraid I won’t get back.”

Farber said goodbye to the crowd too, but not without praising his partner and the way she’s inspired him again after a tough year, most recently marked by his split from fellow dance pro, Emma Slater.

“it’s been a hard year… and getting to dance with her, she’s just turned everything the way it needs to be. She inspired me again, and so many people out there,” Farber said. “She is a wonderful mother, an iconic actress and a wonderful mother. I owe her everything.”

The judges gave the pair all 10s and sent them home with a perfect score for the week.

Blair, who was diagnosed with MS in 2018, has struggled with her health throughout the season, even revealing in a previous episode that she fainted ahead of a scheduled rehearsal.

Although Farber had encouraged her to take the day off, she insisted on pushing through and completing their five-hour session.

“The thing is, I pass out a lot,” Blair said. “It’s part of the reason I have Scout and it doesn’t mean I lose consciousness [or] it’s a whole ambulance experience, it’s something that I lose my vision, gravity pulls me down and I’m very disoriented and gone for a spell. He’s kind of there to also catch me, you know, make the ground a little closer with his back.” 

“It’s just something that I have to be honest with where I’m coming from but also know, like, ‘Wait, I really have this.’ It comes and goes,” she continued, acknowledging the setbacks that sometimes come with the disease. 

Blair, who added that she get frantic quickly, credited her experience in the ballroom with helping to center and balance her breathing — a message she hopes to share with others. 

“It’s been so heartening to see what I think this can do for a lot of people that move or present differently and think they can’t do things,” she explained. “It’s such a blessing to be able to learn some fluidity with dance. It really does help me learn to breathe. That’s something I’ve never done well, even before MS, just being a Midwest girl and not ever really approaching breath.” 

Calling herself a “breath holder,” Blair said learning to “expand and getting my diaphragm going, and lead with my chest and toes” is “such a blessing.” 


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