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 “Cruel Intentions” co-star — who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2018 — wowed the crowd with an impressive cartwheel-into-a-split moment during the show’s Elvis Presley-themed episode.
“First of all, to be dancing to Elvis, to keep a smile on my face because I genuinely am so happy, and to have Sarah here [has been amazing],” Blair, 50, told Page Six via Zoom.
“[She’s] been with me from my first ever, like, movie in Hollywood, and to come to something like this 25 years later and give me love. I mean, we’re best friends, but for [it] to work out with her schedule and everything … it’s just all glorious.”
Blair and her pro partner, Sasha Farber, received a total 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-taped interview package that rehearsals were extra “challenging” this week, as the jive requires one to rely on muscle memory. She noted that her body could “shift at any moment” with MS, so she was nervous about nailing the fast-paced movements of the dance on the live show.
“What I have to remember [is that] I will have moments I’m down on myself. Things like I just couldn’t get my body how it used to be, or steps that I know, and I just sometimes can’t make my body do it,” she told reporters in the post-show presser.
“But then I think of people that have given me so much support, and also might 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 walk away from learning to dance better. I love it so much.”
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As for Gellar, she has been one of Blair’s biggest advocates since the “Legally Blonde” star announced her MS diagnosis. She was spotted pushing Blair around in a wheelchair during a 2019 Disneyland outing and at one point even organized meal deliveries for her pal 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 while speaking to Page Six in October 2019.
“MS is difficult, and it’s different for every person. There’s no similar path in a journey, so it’s difficult to map out recovery because there’s no barometer in which to measure it.”
Gellar spoke similar sentiments in a post shared to 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 from the world under my covers. But not Selma. She is facing this diagnosis, the way she faces everything, with dignity, grace and head on.”
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 liked me really so much,” Giudice, 50, joked to reporters in the post-show presser. “I don’t think he liked me. I knew Len was not going to pick me. I knew he was going to pick Cheryl over me. I knew already … 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+.
