9 Celebrities Who Opened Up About Their MS Battle

"I'm not going to live my life like I have something horrible."

"I'm not going to live my life like I have something horrible."

Multiple sclerosis impacts millions of people around the world — but it’s not a condition that is often spoken about. Over time, the disease causes the body’s immune system to attack the nervous system, leading to unpredictable symptoms like fatigue, numbness, mobility issues and vision problems.

With nearly one million people living with MS in the United States alone, more than a few public figures have been diagnosed with the disease. Although it’s a difficult choice to open up about their battle, some celebrities have chosen to do so in the hopes of bringing awareness to the disease. Recently, actress Emma Caulfield shared her diagnosis after over a decade of keeping it private. Other celebrities like Selma Blair and Christina Applegate have also been candid about their diagnosis — and are proving that it’s possible to thrive despite the disease.

Read on to find out what these stars had to say about MS…

Emma Caulfield

“WandaVision” star Emma Caulfield just revealed that she’s been battling MS for over a decade but has been keeping her diagnosis a secret. Before learning that she had MS in 2010, Emma says that she had “zero health problems” when she began experiencing symptoms — although her father had dealt with MS before his passing. She says she decided to keep her diagnosis a secret so that it wouldn’t impact her career and since then, she has continued to work, even under difficult circumstances.

Emma decided to recently share her diagnosis because her young daughter, who has a greater chance of getting MS, changed her perspective. She now wants to do what she can to raise awareness and help others going through the same thing.

“I was like, ‘I’m not going to live my life like I have something horrible. I’m going to do what I need to do to take care of myself. But I’m not going to live in fear,'” Emma explained in an interview with Vanity Fair.

Christina Applegate

In 2021, Christina Applegate shared that she had been diagnosed with MS. Although she’s been relatively private about her health battle, she did reveal that she had taken up rowing as a way to keep her body healthy.

“It’s been a strange journey. But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition. It’s been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going. Unless some asshole blocks it…As one of my friends that has MS said, ‘We wake up and take the indicated action.’ And that’s what I do,” Christina wrote on Twitter.

Selma Blair

Selma Blair shared her MS diagnosis in 2018, writing that she was doing “her best” while struggling with symptoms that caused her to fall at times and have a foggy memory. While she later admitted that the medical treatments for the disease had been rough on her body, she pushed forward and in 2021, she shared that she was in remission thanks to a stem cell transplant. Then, a year later, Selma decided to join “Dancing With The Stars” — something she never thought she’d be able to do.

“There’s no way I could have [been on ‘DWTS’ two years ago]. like, my balance was so in a process of healing. I did not have any confidence that I could even last a half a dance. You know, I just, that was just didn’t seem like possible. And now it does seem possible,” Selma shared.

She has since exited the dance competition to take care of her health.

Jack Osbourne

Jack Osbourne was diagnosed with MS back in 2012 when he was just 26 after he noticed he was beginning to lose vision in his right eye. Since then, Jack says he’s managed to keep the disease under control and hasn’t had any significant flare-ups recently.

“I’m feeling really, really well, you know, I haven’t had any significant MS flare-ups in a long time. I exercise a lot. I do a bunch of jujitsu. I’m great,” Jack said in 2021.

Montel Williams

In 1999, Montel Williams revealed that he had been dealing with MS for 20 years, although the disease had been misdiagnosed for the majority of that time. Now, having battled MS for four decades, Montel works as an advocate for other MS patients. In 2017 he even launched a line of marijuana products aimed at relieving the painful symptoms of MS.

“I’ve had people walk up to me and say, ‘I wish my husband or wife would be like you.’ But I tell them, there’s no way, because the way this disease manifests itself is unique to every individual. “The one thing we can all do is try to live down to other people’s expectations, but live up to our own — by truly understanding the definition of who we are,” Montel recently said.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler

Jamie-Lynn Sigler hid her MS diagnosis for 15 years before sharing it with the world in 2016. She explained that when she was diagnosed, she was starring in “The Sopranos” and began to experience difficulty walking and weakness in the right side of her body. While she went symptom-free “for quite some time,” she says she now needs time to recharge while doing vigorous activity. Thankfully, she says the people she works with have been extremely accommodating, especially those on the set of “Big Sky.”

“When they asked me to play this role, initially I read it and it said, ‘She’s running through the woods’ and this and that. And I live with MS, so I immediately told them, ‘You guys, I don’t think I can do this.’ And they have stepped up…The accommodations they have made for me professionally…allowed me to really realize that living with MS is not a burden and my talent is still of worth,” she said on “Live With Kelly and Ryan.”

Ann Romney

Ann Romney, the wife of politician Mitt Romney, was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS in 1998. She said that learning of her diagnosis was her “darkest hour” that left her “humbled” and “crushed.” But now she has dedicated herself to raising awareness for the disease and even established the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Clay Walker

Country musician Clay Walker was diagnosed with MS when he was 26 years old. Unfortunately, doctors first told him that he only had eight more years to live. But thankfully, Clay found the right medication with the help of a neurologist and went into remission in 1998. While he recently experienced a flare-up, he’s been able to get things under control with a new medication and a healthy lifestyle. Now, he hopes to help others through his charitable foundation, Band Against MS, which provides educational information for those living with the disease and funds programs researching a cure.

Tamia Hill

Tamia Hill learned she had MS in 2003 after feeling that “something was wrong” with her body. When she began experiencing numbness in her hands and feet and severe fatigue, she checked into the hospital. It took several doctors and a misdiagnosis of a pulled muscle to finally find out she had MS.

“One of the things I learned from that time was to try to keep everything in balance. You can’t please everyone. There’s not enough hours in the day to do all of the things that everyone was asking for you to do. I wasn’t listening to my body…until it kind of caught up with me,” Tamia said.