Selma Blair has been astounding audiences on Dancing With the Stars with her perseverance and talent, and for the James Bond-themed night, she chose to dance blindfolded.
The Legally Blonde actress was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2018 and has had a lot to overcome. MS is a chronic nervous system disease in which the protective coating on nerve fibers in the central nervous system is damaged. The immune system attacks the protective covering of nerve fibers, and it can cause symptoms, such as vision and speech problems, numbness, fatigue, and pain. She’s been very open with her struggles with movement, balance, vision, and speech. She’s chosen to take this great leap because she wants to show people with disabilities the joy that can be found in ways they’d never expect.
Blair mentioned having issues with her leg during the previous episode when she danced the jive, but she persevered beautifully and received sevens across the board. She confessed to her dancing partner Sasha Farber that during the performance she had a lot of sensory overload, but she reminded herself that she has MS and this is just what happens. Her goal is to keep her brain connection as calm as possible to prevent that from happening.
For the show on Oct. 3, she danced the rumba to “For Your Eyes Only” by Sheena Easton, and she was thrilled to do so. She listened to the song with her mom who died in 2020, and she felt that this would be a nice gesture for her. Farber knew how challenging all of this would be for her, so came up with the idea to blindfold her because, with one sense gone, the other heightens. Without all the lights and cameras to distract her, he hoped would calm her heart rate down.
Blair was both relieved and yet found it daunting because she still had to dance without seeing. She trusted that her mother would be with her and trusted in herself to pull it off, and the idea worked. She danced the rumba skillfully across the smoky dance floor with the blindfold on, and triumphantly took it off when she was finished. The judges loved it and she was praised for her vulnerability and artistry. After it was over, Blair said that it did help her block out some of the noise and Farber said that he wanted to make her as comfortable as possible and that he was so proud of her.
When all the performances were over, Blair and Farber landed in seventh place and were safe for another week with a total score of 24. For the next show, the theme will be Disney Night, so expect to see some of Disney’s most popular franchises tearing it up in the ballroom.