From Michigan to Hollywood! Happy 50th birthday, Selma Blair!
Selma Blair was the teenage girl from a small town who wanted to make it big in Hollywood.
She knew she could be an actress after receiving advice from a teacher.
Over the course of her career, she has charmed audiences with her role as wealthy but awkward teenager Cecile Caldwell in 'Cruel Intentions' and uptight law student Vivian Kensington in 'Legally Blonde.'
In recent years, Selma has opened up about going sober following addiction struggles as well as her brave battle with MS.
But what do you really know about Selma Blair?
Selma reaches an important milestone...
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Selma Blair was the teenage girl from a small town who wanted to make it big in Hollywood. She knew she could be an actress after receiving advice from a teacher. Over the course of her career, she has charmed audiences with her role as wealthy but awkward teenager Cecile Caldwell in 'Cruel Intentions' and uptight law student Vivian Kensington in 'Legally Blonde.' In recent years, Selma has opened up about her brave battle with MS. But what do you really know about Selma Blair?
'I was just a girl from Michigan...'
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Selma Blair was born as Selma Blair Beitner on 23 June 1972 in Southfield, Michigan and is the youngest of four daughters of Judge Molly Ann and the late attorney Elliot I. Beitner, who died in 2012 at the age of 82. Selma was raised in a Jewish family and later explained that she always felt a connection to Jewish diarist Anne Frank, who died at the age of 15 in a concentration camp after hiding from the Nazis for two years during World War II. Selma initially wanted to be a ballerina and a horse trainer but when she acted in a production of 'Murder at the Cathedral' during her senior year at high school, her teacher noticed she had potential and encouraged her to pursue a career in acting. Although she spent a year at Kalamazoo College, Selma dropped out and moved to New York at the age of 20 to study acting.
Selma's big break
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Selma was spotted by a talent agent during an acting class and although it took a total of 75 auditions, Selma eventually got her first professional gig in the form of a commercial for a movie theater before landing her first TV role in the mid-1990s on kids' show 'The Adventures of Pete & Pete'. It wasn't until 1998 that her career really took off. Selma starred as wealthy outcast Cecile Caldwell opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar (pictured) and Ryan Phillippe in the teen drama 'Cruel Intentions' and won the Exciting New Face – Female prize at the Young Hollywood Awards. Selma is still close with Sarah Michelle Gellar and took to Instagram back in April to wish her co-star a happy 45th birthday. She wrote: "Happy birthday SMG. I love you forever and have since we met."
She loved working on Legally Blonde
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Selma then landed the role of uptight lawyer Vivian Kensington in 'Legally Blonde.' For this movie - which told the story of a sorority girl who trains as a lawyer in an attempt to win her ex-boyfriend back - Selma was reunited with 'Cruel Intentions' co-star Reese Witherspoon (pictured) and ahead of the film's 21st anniversary she shared some never-before-seen photos from the set as she remembered the comedy. She wrote: "This was a time before cameras on phones. I walked around with a tiny vintage camera but never remembered to take many. I was too busy hanging out with Matt Davis talking in my trailer, or watching Reese work. I made lifetime friends ... Love you all.."
Selma's love life
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When Selma was 18, her childhood sweetheart died in an accident and it was in that moment she realized she had to pursue something in life. She said: "It made me realize I have to live. Having the boy I loved not anymore on this planet, I'd better live, I'd better do something." In 2004, she married writer and producer Ahmet Zappa at Carrie Fisher's Beverly Hills mansion after just six months of dating. Though the marriage lasted only two years, the pair "still love each other very much" and "continue to be close friends". Following her marriage break-up, Selma dated stylist Jason Bleick and they welcomed son Arthur in 2011, but separated 14 months after his birth.
Alicia Silverstone inspired her to go vegan
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The 'Kath and Kim' star was inspired to cut all animal products out of her diet by fellow actress and vegan activist Alicia Silverstone. She said: "I've been following Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet. It helps with my clarity and endurance. In a few weeks I think I'll start getting into the gym when things slow down a bi!"
'I thank God that I am a mom'
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Selma welcomed son Arthur (pictured) with then-boyfriend Jason Bleick back in 2011 and has since spoken about how being a mother had informed her role in the 2016 drama film 'Mothers and Daughters'. She said: "It’s given me a well I never thought I’d have and I thank God for that because if I am given the chance to move forward with acting I am such a different person with such a different level of patience and understanding of people and mothers and women. I am totally, totally grateful for having this time with my son and ready to go back to work now as a really different ."
Conquering addiction
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Selma had her first brush with alochol at the age of just seven and struggled with addiction for most of her life up until 2015. Around that time, she was rushed to the hospital on a stretcher after reportedly taking a combination of prescription medications and alcohol and having what she later described as "a total psychotic blackout" but has been sober ever since. On the second anniversary of her sobriety, she said: "2 years sober. 2 years feeling everything and nothing. 2 years of extreme gratitude and humility and grace. I thank the lord and my friends."
Living with MS
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Selma was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2018, and by 2019, her symptoms had worsened so much she was temporarily unable to walk and talk. She said: "It was a really hard time in my life. People don't say how excruciating, emotionally, it can be to kind of prove you're not well. But I want to tell the truth about MS. It is important to me that people see what living with a chronic illness is like." Here, she is pictured with her MS service dog Scout who helps her go about her daily life. She said: "He's with me all the time. If I fall into a big [muscle] spasm or have some trouble moving and need to recalibrate, he can get between my legs, help me get up, and balance me. It's given me a lot of independence."
Selma could return to acting
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Other than a few small roles here and there, Selma has not acted on screen since 2020 in 'After We Collided' following her MS diagnosis. However, the star - who has been rumoured to be reprising her role as Vivian in 'Legally Blonde 3' - confirmed that she would consider a return to the big screen if the role was "right" but noted that she is not particularly ambitious. She said: "Yes, if there’s the right thing - I’m not going to try and insinuate myself in somewhere. I’m not someone that’s been nagged by ambition."
Happy birthday, Selma!
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Despite everything life has thrown at her, Selma is still grateful for the career and the decades she has had. As the star approached her 50th birthday and released her memoir 'Mean Baby', Selma noted that she was now in a "good place" in life and "cannot believe" everything that has happened to her. She said: "I'm in a good place. I cannot believe all this happened in my life, and I'm still here and I'm okay."
Originally published on celebretainment.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.
