Sarah Michelle Gellar had an emotional reaction to longtime friend Selma Blair’s performance on Dancing with the Stars.
On Monday evening, Legally Blonde star Selma Blair – who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2018 – performed her second dance routine of the season with dance partner Sasha Farber. The two did a rendition of a jive to the Elvis Presley song, “Jailhouse Rock”, in honour of this week’s theme, Elvis Night.
Spotted in the audience was Blair’s Cruel Intentions co-star, Sarah Michelle Gellar. During the performance, Gellar cheered on her friend as she watched from the crowd. At one moment, the camera panned over to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer star, who was seen clapping for Blair and wiping away tears after the triumphant routine.
Blair and Farber scored a total of 28 points, landing them in a tie for sixth place.
Many viewers noticed the emotional moment, and took to Twitter to share their thoughts on Gellar’s teary-eyed reaction.
“I love SMG supporting Selma Blair on #DWTS tonight!!!” tweeted television producer Frank Costa.
“This fills me with so much joy,” replied Twitter account Queens of Bravo.
“When they panned to her after Selma’s performance and she was in tears,” Costa responded. “My heart I love them so much”.
Another Twitter user wrote: “not smg crying in the audience during selma’s dance, dwts is too much for me”.
“SMG is in the audience with tears in her eyes watching Selma Blair dance?! I knew I picked the right time to start watching Dancing with the Stars,” said someone else.
Selma Blair, 50, and Sarah Michelle Gellar, 45, have been close friends ever since they starred together in the 1999 teen drama, Cruel Intentions. Back in June, Gellar celebrated her friend’s 50th birthday by posting a throwback picture of the pair to Instagram. The photo, which was taken on Gellar’s 21st birthday in 1998, showed the young actresses hugging and smiling towards the camera.
“If I told that little girl on the right, that the girl to her left was going to be her lifelong friend…she would say ‘I know,’” Gellar captioned the birthday message. “From the day I met you I knew you were special and would be by my side for ever.”
“I’m sorry I can’t be with you today (gee thanks COVID) and that we are not on our special trip (again thanks COVID) but I’m always with you,” she wrote. “I love you my mean baby.”
In April, the Cruel Intentions actors were also joined by their fellow co-star Ryan Phillippe during a mini reunion on Gellar’s 45th birthday. Gellar shared a series of photos of the trio together in front of art from the film hanging in a Los Angeles art gallery. “Art and surprises on my birthday. What a special day,” she captioned the photo.
Selma Blair’s Dancing with the Stars performance may have also been emotional for Gellar to watch, considering Blair is currently in remission from multiple sclerosis. Since her diagnosis in 2018, Selma has been very open about her MS journey and released a documentary detailing her health struggles titled, Introducing, Selma Blair.
The actor underwent chemotherapy in 2019 before receiving a stem-cell transplant. In 2021, Blair told a panel at the Television Critics Association that she was in remission following the revolutionary hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation.
“My prognosis is great. I’m in remission,” she said. “It took about a year after stem cell for the inflammation and lesions to really go down, so I was reluctant to talk about it because I felt this need to be more healed. I don’t have any new lesions forming.”
She continued: “There’s still maintenance, treatment and glitches, and wonderful things. Cognitively, I’m very changed and that’s been the harder part.”
