“Most Memorable Night” is the most emotional episode of Dancing With the Stars every season and this week’s episode came to an end with Selma Blair and Sasha Farber saying goodbye to the competition. In a pre-recorded video, Blair told her partner that she couldn’t continue due to health concerns connected to her multiple sclerosis. The duo was teary-eyed as they hugged each other while watching the package from inside the ballroom.
Blair said, “I had these MRIs and the results came back and it just all adds up to… I can’t go on with the competition. With a chronic illness, you do have special considerations, and my body is definitely taking a hit. It’s way too much for the safety of my bones. There’s just intensive bone trauma and inflammation … I could do extensive damage that, of course, I do not want.”
The pair performed their last dance, a waltz set to What the World Needs Now. Blair and Farber received a perfect 40 for their dance before bowing out of the show. Before joining the competition, Blair had basically been on bed rest for the last ten years. The pair left everyone crying as each pro, celebrity and judge lined up to hug them before their exit.
Blair told a leading website, “From day one of joining this show and knowing Sasha before that some, this has been such an awakening in ways that I didn’t think would happen in my lifetime. I didn’t think I’d even have this earnestness in my lifetime to genuinely want to do this and for risk of embarrassment. Forgetting my disabilities or my chronic illness, I wasn’t an accomplished dancer at all. So it’s always scary to put it out there. Seeing how every dancer that has come on this show this season has been truly a top-notch star, that makes me realize something really big about our perceptions of people or certain shows or what we think. This is gold here. What these celebrities and pros put together is real passion of some kind of self-love, acceptance and performance. It’s a really wonderful reminder and to be embraced by these people, my heart is broken in the best way.”
Farber wasn’t sure of their return but Blair said she had “high hopes.” Farber told the website, “We gotta look after her health and her body, that’s priority number one and I think the hard thing is with these injuries, she doesn’t feel her left side. When I would be like, ‘Are you OK? How are you feeling? Does this hurt?’ She would be like, ‘No, I’m great, I’m great!’ But little did we know sometimes the connection would come back to her body and she would have proper feel of the left leg and the side. It’s been a shit-show of a year to put it lightly. But there isn’t enough words to tell to say how proud I am. She is a true inspiration. She has not only inspired myself, but so many people around the world. And I’m saying world not just America, because we’ve been getting so much support from overseas. There’s nothing that this lady can’t do. This lady right here is an incredible mother, an amazing, iconic actress and a phenomenal dancer. And I couldn’t be more proud.”
Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune illness that affects the brain and spinal cord and impairs brain-to-body communication. Blair spoke about her struggle with the illness in the documentary Introducing Selma Blair which was released over the weekend in select theatres. The documentary shows the actress enduring stem-cell therapy and chemotherapy and showcases the toll the treatment took on the actress’ body.
(Source: Variety/Instagram)
