Selma Blair spoke frankly about her complicated history with alcohol addiction, which began at an early age.
“My first [time] drunk [was] when I was 7 years old. I had my first drink much younger. Even as a child, it’s a comfort,” Blair, 49, said in an interview with Today’s Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday, May 11. “It was hard. I don’t know. But maybe it was easier. Maybe I would never have survived without a drink.”
The “Cruel Games” actress recalled how much she drank in elementary, middle, high school and college. Alcohol helped Blair forget about the traumatic experiences that affected her mental health. “These were things I drank to forget. I didn’t drink for attention. I drank to disappear,” she added.
Blair, who describes her addiction in detail in her memoir “Sneaky Kid,” noted that chronic panic throughout her life contributed to her personal battles. “I had so many things that pointed to [multiple sclerosis],” she recalled. “The doctors thought I had leukemia. I didn’t have one, but I had a constant high fever. Diseases in childhood are related. I know for sure that I had it by the age of 23. It’s definitely been there for so long.”
Speaking about her diagnosis for the first time in October 2018, the Michigan native spoke about her health. “The pain is still there. I’m in remission. I have not built new defeats. I still have some brain damage and stuff, but I’m fine,” she explained. “I’m fine. I’m grateful because I feel so much better.”
The “Legally Blonde” star also revealed that she remained sober after the incident in 2016.
“I made a big mistake yesterday. After a wonderful trip with my son and his father, I mixed alcohol with medication and it made me lose consciousness and made me say and do things that I deeply regret,” Blair said in a statement to Vanity Fair in June 2016. My son slept with his father in headphones, so this is a saving grace. I take this very seriously, and I apologize to all the passengers and crew members that I interrupted, and I am grateful to all the people who helped me after that. I am an imperfect person who makes mistakes, and I am ashamed of this incident. I’m really sorry.”
Looking back on the situation, Blair called it a wake-up call that inspired her sobriety. “What made me really stop drinking was that I could have died on that plane,” she added on Wednesday. “I mean, now that I’ve become a mother, everything has changed.”
