Selma Blair thought she was "broken inside" before she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
In a recent interview with Us Weekly, the 52-year-old actress reflected on being diagnosed with MS in 2018.
"I honestly thought I was making it up before I was diagnosed," Selma confessed. "I just thought, 'Jesus, Selma, you're very broken inside. Admit it.' I didn't know I wasn't broken and that I had brain tissue damage."
The Cruel Intentions star went on to say she became "much happier" after being diagnosed with the autoimmune disease.
"Once I knew I had MS - which I'd had for a while - (things) made so much more sense. And I actually became much happier," she told the outlet. "I'd had these jerks and spasms for many years, and I'd try to suppress them or keep moving or drink excessive amounts of alcohol to stop big things that I thought were mental."
Selma then agreed that the diagnosis had set her free.
"It did. I realised it's not about me. It's about how I deal with people in the world," she shared. "My stutter or dystonia or lack of ability to function in the sun - if that happens to me, it happens to others."
Elsewhere in the interview, the Legally Blonde actress said that giving hope to other people with MS was "important" to her.
"It's the most important thing I can do," she said. "I could be sitting crying at a table and someone leaves me a note that says, 'You changed my daughter's life' or 'My daughter dances again because she didn't mind looking strange anymore when she can't do it.' And I feel like the luckiest person in the world."