Selma Blairs recounts her horrific experiences in memoir 'Mean Baby'
by Ana Walia | Thu, 12 May 2022 16:49:26 GMT
Selma Blair opened up about her substance abuse. Image Source: Variety 

Trigger Warning: Incidents of sexual assault

Selma Blair opened up about her substance abuse and multiple sexual assaults. 

Selma Blair talks about her substance abuse in her memoir ‘Mean Baby’ and spoke to People about how her addiction started at the age of 7 and other personal tragedies, including sexual assaults and attempts at suicide.

The actress said that she does not know if she could have survived her childhood without alcohol, and that is one of the things that people cannot wrap their heads around when they hear it. Selma says that she started young and alcohol became her coping mechanism and eventually her comfort.

Selma stated that the first time she had a drink was a revelation for her and that by the age of seven when she had Manischewitz and no one noticed her alcohol intake level, the experience was not God but fermentation. She stated she had earlier taken modest sips of Manischewitz, which she imagined was a light that rushed through her throughout the Seder, filling her with God's warmth.

Selma Blair thought that it was a huge disappointment and got drunk that night and was put in her sister’s bed with her, and in the morning she did not remember how she got there. In her memoir, the acre writes that she did not get drunk at first, but instead took quick sips when her anxiety flared. She added that she would barely get tipsy but become an expert alcoholic adept at hiding her secret.

In her interview with Today’s Savannah Guthrie, Selma shared that she had so many things that were so indicative of multiple sclerosis before adding that doctors thought she had leukemia but she didn’t. She has now adapted to live with the disease and writes in her memoir that she did not drink for attention but to disappear, as there were things she needed to forget and alcohol helped.

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In her teens and early twenties, Selma Blair became more addicted to alcohol, recalling being raped after a day of binge drinking while on a college spring break vacation. She writes that she doesn't recall if both of them raped her, but that one of them did, and that she became silent while it was occurring, hoping for it to end. Selma wrote that she was raped several times because she was too inebriated to say "Please Stop," that just one of the instances was violent, and that she came out of each encounter quietly and ashamed.

Selma had never mentioned the trauma of being raped several times except when she went to see her therapist, but she did mention it in her memoir as part of her healing. The actress claimed that her sense of trauma was more than she realized and that she had no idea that assault could play such a significant role in her life. She went on to say that she felt a lot of shame and blame, but that she now feels secure enough to write it all down on paper with the support of her therapist, which has enabled her to feel less ashamed.

Selma also spoke about how she was sexually assaulted as a teenager by one of her deans from a boarding school in Michigan. She writes that she thought that he was the greatest man alive and she couldn’t have predicted it as she trusted the authorities as she was just a teenager. She stated that before winter breaks her freshman year, she had gone to his office to say goodbye and that is when he crossed the line. Selma wrote that they embraced, and it felt too long, too still, too quiet, and he touched her. He never raped her or threatened her, she said, but he broke her. She added that nothing happened again, but she never felt safe.

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The Cruel Intentions actress revealed that she has discussed a lot of her past events in her biography, primarily for her kid and for individuals who are looking for the deepest hole to burrow into till the anguish they are experiencing passes away. Selma Blair has been sober since 2016 and is in a good place and has concluded that she cannot believe that so much has happened to her in her life and she is okay. She told Savannah that she passed out on a plane and her son was four years old at the time, and she was carried from the aircraft on a stretcher after landing, which is what made her stop drinking.

Mean Baby is available on May 17.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741, or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for more information.

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