Sarah Michelle Gellar was moved to tears by Selma Blair’s highly energetic performance on “Dancing With the Stars” Monday night.
Cameras caught the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” alum getting emotional in the audience after her co-star “Cruel Intentions” – who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2018 – stunned the crowd with an impressive cartwheel in a split moment during the Elvis Presley-themed episode of the show.
“First of all, to dance to Elvis, to keep a smile on my face because I really am so happy, and to have Sarah here [has been amazing]Blair, 50, told Vidak For Congress via Zoom.
“[She’s] was with me from my very first movie in Hollywood, and 25 years later to come to something like this and give me love. I mean, we’re best friends, but for… [it] to work with her schedule and everything … it’s just all lovely.”
Blair and her pro partner, Sasha Farber, received an aggregate score of 28/40 from judges Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli for their impressive jive to “Jailhouse Rock”.
The “Hellboy” actress admitted in her pre-recorded interview package that rehearsals this week were extra “challenging” because the jive requires you to rely on muscle memory. She noted that with MS, her body could “shift at any moment,” so she was nervous to capture the fast-paced dance moves on the live show.
“What I need to remember [is that] I’ll have moments when I’m on my own. Things like I just couldn’t get my body the way it was, or steps that I know, and sometimes I just can’t get my body to do it,” she told reporters in the post-show presser.
“But then I think about people who have given me so much support, and maybe also have neurological differences … that make us freeze and walk away from something we love,” she continued. “And it’s like there’s nothing in me that wants to run away and learn to dance better. I love it so much.”
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As for Gellar, she’s been one of Blair’s biggest advocates since the “Legally Blonde” star announced her MS diagnosis. She was seen pushing Blair around in a wheelchair during a Disneyland outing in 2019 and at one point even organized meal deliveries for her boyfriend with help from stars like Reese Witherspoon and Constance Zimmer.
“I think she’s a warrior and a hero. She’s amazing,” Gellar, 45, said of Blair during a conversation with Vidak For Congress in October 2019.
“MS is difficult, and it’s different for everyone. There is no comparable path in a journey, so it is difficult to map recovery because there is no barometer to measure it.”
Gellar expressed similar sentiments in a post shared on Instagram in February of that year, writing, “To say I’m proud would be a gross understatement.”
She added: “When I have a cold, I want to hide under my covers from the world. But Selma doesn’t. She faces this diagnosis, as she faces everything, with dignity, grace and straight forward.”
Monday’s “DWTS” ended with “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Teresa Giudice and her pro partner, Pasha Pashkov, going home after head judge Goodman eliminated them over actress Cheryl Ladd and Louis Van Amstel.
“Yeah, I don’t think Len really liked me that much,” Giudice, 50, joked to reporters in the post-show presser. ‘I don’t think he liked me. I knew Len wouldn’t choose me. I knew he would choose Cheryl over me. I already knew… I had a feeling.”
“Dancing With the Stars” returns next Monday for “James Bond Night” at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Disney+.