Selma Blair Says DWTS Is a 'New Chapter' in Her Multiple Sclerosis Journey: 'Finding Strength'

Selma Blair

Selma Blair is beginning a new chapter on her multiple sclerosis journey thanks to Dancing with the Stars.

Following the announcement that she would be joining the season 31 cast alongside partner Sasha Farber, the actress, 50, spoke to E! News about what the experience will mean for those with similar disabilities.

"I'm so excited. I'm so happy, so invigorated by this," she told the outlet. "This is a new chapter of growing my stamina and really healing. Not just healing, but finding huge strength and support."

Blair was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2018 and has since shared a candid look at what it's like to manage MS while having a career and family. She explained that she's doing DWTS not only for herself, but also for those who have supported her health journey.

"It is for the viewer, because that is what has given me support. In dark times in my life, there are people that have come forward — strangers on the street or on Instagram, my original fans ... I'm doing it for them," the Cruel Intentions star said.

"Kindness and visibility is so important — to explore, be curious and expose people to differences of speech or movement," she added. "It's for everyone at home that it resonates with."

RELATED: Selma Blair Is 'In Remission' from Her Multiple Sclerosis: 'My Prognosis Is Great'

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Blair has been open throughout the last four years about her life with MS, and she shared an even deeper look into her world last fall with the documentary Introducing, Selma Blair. The film showed the difficult experience of undergoing a life-altering stem cell treatment to restart her immune system and slow a painful flare-up of the disease.

"It was a really hard time in my life," the actress told PEOPLE last year. "People don't say how excruciating, emotionally, it can be to kind of prove you're not well. But I want to tell the truth about MS. It is important to me that people see what living with a chronic illness is like."

The treatment, which requires an aggressive course of chemotherapy, had a long recovery, but Blair has seen "huge improvements" in her MS since and can move more easily, to the point where she's now able to enjoy things like horseback riding again.

Blair's MS is in remission, but the disease is not curable, and "the severe fatigue is still such a gargantuan boulder in my way," she said.

But "I'm working on it. Little by little, I can do all these things," she said. "I mean, I can't say I could go running, but I can jog down to the mailbox if I were to practice a few times."