Madonna attends the opening ceremony of the Mercy James Children’s Hospital; AMOS GUMULIRA/AFP via Getty Images
For her upcoming birthday on August 16, Madonna wants get in bed with you — metaphorically and physically.
Madonna is asking her fans to help support the Mercy James Centre, the hospital she built in Malawi four years ago, which is the only pediatric intensive care unit in the entire country. Specifically, she needs more beds in the hospital — 50 of them, to be exact — so she’s asking fans to donate money to purchase those beds.
“I want to ensure that every child that comes into that hospital and has an operation or surgery of any kind has a bed to recuperate in afterwards, and is taken care of,” Madonna explains in an Instagram video.
She adds, “I will name that bed after you and you will forever be, not only in my heart, but in the hearts of all the children of Malawi and their families. Thank you in advance for your generosity, and happy birthday to me!”
You can donate at RaisingMalawi.org. If you’ve got deep pockets, you can donate $5,000 and get a bed named after you. If you don’t have that kind of money, you can donate $2,500 and share the bed name with one other donor, or $500, to have your name listed with nine other donors.
Even if you can’t afford that, you can give $100 to contribute to a nurse’s salary, or even $25 to pay for a month’s worth of medicine for one child.
Of course, helping the children of Malawi is one of Madonna’s pet causes, because it’s the country where four of her children — David, Mercy, Stella and Estere — were born.
(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) — Lila Hartley, from Jacksonville, Florida, took matters into her own hands when she heard Duval County Public Schools wouldn’t require masks for the upcoming school year: She wrote a letter to the school board and superintendent pushing for a mask mandate.
“I would like to encourage the requirement of masks at school in Duval County. Right now, especially while the Delta variant is surging, hospitalizing and killing so many kids. I really believe masks should be required,” she wrote in the letter, which was shared with “Good Morning America.”
“This pandemic is still around,” Lila told “GMA” of why she wrote the letter. “People are still dying and getting sick. Masks save lives, and I don’t want my brother to die.”
While Lila and her family are vaccinated, her brother Will, 10, is too young to receive the vaccine.
“I am so worried that if masks are not required my brother could go to school one day and the next be dying in the hospital,” the letter continued. “We are siblings so we have our rivalries but I don’t know what I would do if he died, especially if it was caused by a place that means so much to him, school.”
Will is also a big supporter of masks and finds himself reminding his friends to wear theirs properly.
“Masks do help us,” he told “GMA.” “I wear my mask because even though the rest of my family is vaccinated, there’s still a chance they can get it.”
Lila emailed a copy of her letter to the board on July 26, and has only heard back from one of the board members so far, she said.
On July 30, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order banning schools from requiring masks. If schools are found to be in violation, they may lose state funding.
According to the governor’s office, the order was in response to “several Florida school boards considering or implementing mask mandates” and to “protect parents’ freedom to choose whether their children wear masks.”
Following the executive order, the Duval County school board held a meeting Aug. 3 to decide on whether it would require masks for the upcoming school year.
Lila and her brother demonstrated with a number of others outside the meeting in favor of masks, while her father, Matt Hartley, and other parents, educators, and medical professionals voiced their opinions inside.
“We wanted to support dad because he’s been working hard,” Lila said.
“We’re fighting for ourselves, but we’re fighting for other kids too,” Hartley told “GMA.” “That’s our M.O. — we love our neighbors.”
The board voted 5-2 in favor of requiring masks with a parental opt-out. Parents will not have to provide a reason for opt-outs.
Hartley said that while the vote did “make things a lot better with masking,” he’s “disappointed” as it still leaves a lot of room for people to not wear them.
In a statement provided to ABC News, Duval County School Board Chairwoman Elizabeth Anderson said, “The Board’s emergency policy decision Tuesday night creates the best balance between our deeply held responsibility for the safety and welfare of students and staff while fully respecting parental choice under the Governor’s order.”
“It’s important to wear masks because it keeps each other safe,” Lila, who one day hopes to be secretary of state, said. “If I’m wearing a mask and the other person is wearing a mask then we’re both safe and not giving each other our germs and possibly COVID.”
(WASHINGTON) — The State Department will begin reducing its staff levels at the U.S. embassy in Kabul and the Pentagon will send troops in to help facilitate those departures, as Taliban forces advance on more provincial capitals.
There wasn’t any specific event that led President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to execute the plan, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Thursday afternoon, but rather the overall worsening trend in Afghanistan.
“There wasn’t one precipitating event in the last couple of days that led the president and the secretary to make this decision. It’s a confluence of events, and as I’ve been saying for now for several weeks, we have been watching very closely with concern the security situation on the ground — and far better to be prudent about it and be responsible and watching the trends to make the best decisions you can for safety and security of our people than to wait until it’s too late,” Kirby said.
The events in Afghanistan over the last 24 hours with the Taliban pressuring major Afghan cities was a significant factor in the decision to go forward with the reduction in staffing and the new military mission, a U.S. official told ABC News.
Biden held a meeting with his team Wednesday night and tasked them to come up with recommendations, according to a senior administration official. Then, at a meeting Thursday morning with Austin and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, the recommendations were presented to Biden and he gave the order to move forward.
The official also said the president separately spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken Thursday morning to discuss a diplomatic strategy and that Biden continues to be engaged on this issue and is staying in close contact with his team on the situation.
State Department Spokesman Ned Price said that while the embassy in Kabul will remain open, they will be reducing their civilian footprint due to the “evolving security situation.” He added that they expect to draw down to a core diplomatic presence in Afghanistan.
“What this is not — this is not abandonment. This is not an evacuation. This is not the wholesale withdrawal,” Price said Thursday. “What this is, is a reduction in the size of our civilian footprint. This is a drawdown of civilian Americans who will, in many cases, be able to perform their important functions elsewhere, whether that’s in the United States or elsewhere in the region.”
The United Kingdom is also sending military personnel — about 600 paratroopers — to Kabul on a short-term basis to provide support to British nationals leaving the country, according to a joint press release from the Ministry of Defence and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The number of staffers working at the British Embassy in Kabul has also been reduced to a core team focused on providing consular and visa services for those needing to rapidly leave the country.
In a briefing at the Pentagon, the Defense Department’s top spokesman announced that it’s sending 3,000 troops from three infantry battalions — two Marine and one Army — to Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport to help out with the removal of American personnel from the U.S. embassy.
The State Dept. will begin reducing its staff levels at the U.S. embassy in Kabul and the Pentagon will send troops in to help facilitate those departures, as Taliban forces advance on more provincial capitals. @IanPannell & @LMartinezABC report. https://t.co/PILkULaxcqpic.twitter.com/FR2OTOLFNt
They’ll be there “temporarily” and will begin shipping out in the next 24 to 48 hours. These numbers are on top of the 650 already in Kabul protecting the airport and the embassy.
An additional 1,000 personnel will be sent to assist with the processing of Afghans who worked as interpreters, guides and other contractors and applied for Special Immigrant Visas.
“I want to stress that these forces are being deployed to support the orderly and safe reduction of civilian personnel at the request of the State Department and to help facilitate an accelerated process of working through SIV applicants,” Kirby said. “This is a temporary mission with a narrow focus. As with all deployments of our troops into harm’s way, our commanders have the inherent right of self defense, and any attack on them can and will be met with a forceful and appropriate response.”
Furthermore, a brigade of 3,000 to 3,500 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne will be sent to Kuwait to pre-position in case they are needed further.
Kirby called it a “very temporary mission for a very temporary purpose,” and said the DOD expects to keep no more than 1,000 troops in Kabul to protect the airport and embassy after the Aug. 31 deadline — a number that has notably crept up from the 650 troops originally set to remain.
Price said they will continue to relocate qualified Afghans who assisted the American mission, such as interpreters and others who worked for the U.S. government, and flights will ramp up in the coming days.
Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters that after a meeting with business leaders Thursday afternoon she would leave to “continue the briefings that we’ve been receiving.”
The U.S. embassy in Kabul has also urged Americans to evacuate Afghanistan immediately, amid fears that the capital could fall into Taliban hands in a matter of weeks.
A military analysis said the city could be isolated in 30 to 60 days and be captured in 90 days, a U.S. official told ABC News, but that timeline seemed even more accelerated Thursday as the Taliban claimed Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city.
This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — The State Department will begin reducing its staff levels at the U.S. embassy in Kabul and the Pentagon will send troops in to help facilitate those departures, as Taliban forces advance on more provincial capitals.
State Department Spokesman Ned Price said that while the embassy in Kabul will remain open, they will be reducing their civilian footprint due to the “evolving security situation.” He added that they expect to draw down to a core diplomatic presence in Afghanistan.
“What this is not — this is not abandonment. This is not an evacuation. This is not the wholesale withdrawal,” Price said Thursday. “What this is, is a reduction in the size of our civilian footprint. This is a drawdown of civilian Americans who will, in many cases, be able to perform their important functions elsewhere, whether that’s in the United States or elsewhere in the region.”
In a briefing at the Pentagon, the Defense Department’s top spokesman announced that it’s sending 3,000 troops from three infantry battalions — two Marine and one Army — to Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport to help out with the removal of American personnel from the U.S. embassy.
They’ll be there “temporarily” and will begin shipping out in the next 24 to 48 hours. These numbers are on top of the 650 already in Kabul protecting the airport and the embassy.
An additional 1,000 personnel will be sent to assist with the processing of Afghans who worked as interpreters, guides and other contractors and applied for Special Immigrant Visas.
Furthermore, a brigade of 3,000 to 3,500 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne will be sent to Kuwait to pre-position in case they are needed further.
Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters that after a meeting with business leaders Thursday afternoon she would leave to “continue the briefings that we’ve been receiving.”
Price said they will continue to relocate qualified Afghans who assisted the American mission, such as interpreters and others who worked for the U.S. government, and flights will ramp up in the coming days.
The U.S. embassy in Kabul has also urged Americans to evacuate Afghanistan immediately, amid fears that the capital could fall into Taliban hands in a matter of weeks.
A military analysis said the city could be isolated in 30 to 60 days and be captured in 90 days, a U.S. official told ABC News, but that timeline seemed even more accelerated Thursday as the Taliban claimed Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city.
This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.
A new archival Elvis Presley box set focusing on May-June 1971 recording sessions that the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll did in Nashville will be released as a four-CD set and digitally on November 12.
Elvis: Back in Nashville features recordings Presley made with his session musicians that were intended for use in various releases. Some of the recordings, after being augmented by orchestral and vocal overdubs, wound up — with subsequent orchestral and vocal overdubs — on 1971’s Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas, the Grammy-winning 1972 gospel album He Touched Me, 1972’s Elvis Now and 1973’s Elvis.
A special unboxing event for the Elvis: Back in Nashville package takes place today in Memphis at the Guest House Theater at Graceland as part of Elvis Week 2021, and will stream live at YouTube.com/ElvisPresley and Facebook.com/ElvistheMusic starting at 5 p.m. ET.
Back in Nashville features a total of 82 tracks, and includes songs from a variety of genres. Disc One includes various country and folk covers, a selection of Ivory Joe Hunter tunes featuring just Elvis and piano accompaniment, and renditions of classic pop compositions, including “My Way.”
Disc Two focuses on contemporary and classic gospel and Christmas songs.
Disc Three features additional country and folk tunes, including an epic rendition of Bob Dylan‘s “Don’t Think Twice, (It’s Alright),” as well as covers of such rock songs as Chuck Berry‘s “Johnny B. Goode” and The Beatles‘ “Lady Madonna.”
Disc Four boasts outtake versions of various religious and holiday songs.
One of the tracks, a raw first-take version of the song “I’m Leavin’,” has been released as an advance digital single.
A two-LP vinyl version of Back in Nashville also will be available, while Graceland.com is offering an exclusive colored-vinyl edition.
(LONDON) — Hawa Doucouré and her teammates on the Les Hijabeuses soccer team have a simple message to send while playing the game they love: “Hands off my hijab.”
It’s a message they hope is received not only by the French Football Federation, but the country’s government as well.
“We are strong together and we will fight to the end,” Doucouré, 19, told ABC News. “We will fight until every woman can play the sport that she wants to play, how she wants to play it.”
The Hijabeuses, a collective of French soccer players, have spent the last year fighting to be included in official competitions. While FIFA, the world governing body for football, has permitted the Muslim veil on the field since 2014, the French Football Federation continues to ban it in club matches and international games, telling ABC News that it “promotes and defends the values of secularism, living together, neutrality and the fight against all forms of discrimination.”
The players’ calls for change are part of a larger movement against the country’s ban on religious symbols and garb, including niqabs and burqas. The latest controversy surrounds an amendment proposed earlier this year that bans minors from wearing a hijab in public.
France currently bans public workers and school students from wearing religious symbols, except at universities. The proposals that were also discussed included bans on Muslim mothers wearing hijabs on school trips and Muslim women wearing burkinis, or full-body swimsuits. They were eventually cut from the bill in one of the legislative rounds.
Rim-Sarah Alouane, a lawyer and researcher of religious freedom living in Toulouse, noted, “These conversations will keep on happening.”
“There was a time when the French had unveiling ceremonies and you had a bunch of French women surrounding a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf celebrating the fact that she would remove her headscarf, usually by force, to say, ‘Now you’re welcome in our society,'” said Alouane.
There is currently no law in France specifically banning hijabs in sports competitions. The Hijabeuses said they have yet to hear back from the French Football Federation about why it has gone beyond the rule of law to restrict the wearing of hijabs in official sports competitions even as FIFA permits them.
The French government said it’s passing these laws in the name of safety and secularism, and that the law strengthens its ability to adhere to principles of neutrality in government institutions. However, critics of the law argue that it will further stoke racism and discrimination in France, which is home to the largest population of Muslims in Western Europe. The country has seen an alarming rise in Islamophobia in recent years in part due to a rash of recent terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists and the subsequent strengthening of far-right politics.
Doucouré and her teammates are part of a movement of female athletes around the world challenging patriarchal norms to dress a certain way during competition.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Germany’s women’s gymnastics team wore full-length bodysuits instead of the more revealing leotards. Norway’s women’s beach handball team, meanwhile, wore shorts instead of bikinis at the Beach Handball EURO 2021 competition.
Germany’s women’s gymnastics team had complied with the existing rules under the International Gymnastics Federation, and thus faced no consequences. Norway’s women’s beach handball team, however, were fined 1,500 euros (about $1,700) by the Disciplinary Commission at the Beach Handball EURO 2021 for “improper clothing,” according to a statement from the European Handball Federation. The singer Pink later offered to pay the fine for the team.
Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, a former Division I college basketball player, said that when it came to deciding between wearing Muslim garb or continuing to play basketball, she chose her faith. She went on advocate for Muslim women in sports and, in 2017, her efforts paid off when the International Basketball Federation amended its rules to allow head coverings — while also noting that there were no health safety concerns in doing so.
Now, she says that not only are Muslim women allowed to wear head coverings, “but Jewish men can wear yarmulkes, and Sikh men who wear turbans can all participate. So, this rule change was big for just the greater good.”
It’s a struggle that Abdul-Qaadir said has been a “rough” part of her “journey” in her sporting career. Doucouré said times have changed for Muslim women.
“Nowadays, women are visible,” said Doucouré. “We are not like the kind of hijabi they think we are. They have the idea of the hijabi that struggles in the house, who does housework, who don’t have a life. When they see young women wearing it — doing sports, educated — they don’t want to see that because it’s a contradiction with the vision they have of the hijab.”
Bruno Mars‘ latest project Silk Sonic, featuring himself and Anderson. Paak, has only released two singles, but both have been quite successful. Now, Anderson has found the perfect place to park all the cash he’s been raking in.
The “Leave the Door Open” singer posted a photo of himself at a restaurant called Taisho, and captioned the image, “The boy done invested his #silksonic money in the best sushi in town! The foodies are calling it ‘BUSSIN!!’ Come see for yourself!”
The restaurant is located in Sherman Oaks, California, and Anderson, a California native, joked in his caption, “Tell them you know AP and they will charge you full price with no hesitation! God is the greatest!”
He also jokingly added the hashtag “#DontAskForNoDiscounts.”
As for Bruno, he’s got his own food and beverage side hustle going as one of the co-owners of Selva Rey Rum.
Silk Sonic’s latest single and video is “Skate,” and fans aren’t the only ones who are getting impatient for the duo’s debut album, which still doesn’t have a release date. Last month, when Bruno posted childhood photos of himself and Anderson, Anderson himself jumped in the comments and wrote, “WE WANT THE ALBUM!!!“
(LONDON) — The head of London’s Metropolitan Police, Dame Cressida Dick, was asked on Thursday about the new civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew filed Monday in a New York court by Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Giuffre is accusing Prince Andrew of sexually abusing her at locations including Epstein’s Manhattan mansion before she turned 18.
London’s chief of police said her team was “open to working with authorities from overseas” and are themselves reviewing their position, saying that “no one is above the law.” She also confirmed that there’s currently no investigation open.
Dick was speaking on her monthly radio phone-in program on LBC, a London radio station.
Nick Ferrari, the interviewer, asked her, “What investigation is taking place into the allegations of Virginia Roberts concerning Prince Andrew?”
She replied: “I’m not going to talk about individuals, but what I can say is that I think what you’re referring to is associated with Jeffrey Epstein, who I will talk about since he is deceased.
“The position there is that we have had more than one allegation that is connected with Mr. Epstein, and we have reviewed those, assessed those and we have not opened an investigation.”
Ferrari replied: “If there are reports of underage girls being trafficked to London to have sex with the Duke of York, isn’t that something you’d want to take a look at?”
Dick explained she’d reviewed the evidence twice and concluded that “that there is no investigation to open.”
“What we will look at is, is there evidence of a crime? Is this the right jurisdiction for it to be dealt with? And is the person against whom the crime alleged still alive?” she responded. “Those are the three things that we do look at and have looked at in these cases. And we have concluded that there is no investigation to open, and we haven’t.
“I’m aware that there’s been a lot of commentary in the media and an apparent civil case going on in America and we will again, of course, review our position.”
When asked for further explanation as to what the commissioner meant by “review our position,” the Metropolitan Police said in a following statement to ABC News: “We do not comment on named individuals who are alive unless they have been charged with an offence.”
In her interview with LBC, Dick also refused to comment on whether she’s seen the testimony from Prince Andrew’s police protection officers.
Ferrari quizzed her, “Have you seen the testimony from the Duke of York’s royal protection team pertaining to the night of the allegations which he strenuously denies what took place in a London apartment?”
Dick replied: “I’m not going to comment any further. … It’s been reviewed twice before, we’ve worked closely with the CPS, we are of course open to working with authorities from overseas, we will give them every assistance if they ask us for anything — within the law, obviously — and as a result of what’s going on I’ve asked my team to have another look at the material.”
“No one is above the law,” she added.
The Met police do not comment on security but there has been much speculation that their records could help to establish Prince Andrew’s movements on the night that Virginia Giuffre alleges he sexually assaulted her.
Prince Andrew has consistently denied these allegations. In a 2019 interview with the BBC, he said, “I’ve said consistently and frequently said that we never had any sort of sexual contact whatever.”
He claimed to have no memory of ever meeting her and suggested that a widely circulated photograph of him with his arm around the waist of the then-17-year-old Giuffre, allegedly taken by Epstein in the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001, might have been doctored.
“I don’t believe that photograph was taken in the way that has been suggested,” he said. “I think it’s, from the investigations that we’ve done, you can’t prove whether or not that photograph is faked or not, because it is a photograph of a photograph of a photograph. So it’s very difficult to be able to prove it, but I don’t remember that photograph ever being taken.”
The prince also contended that he had an alibi for the date of the alleged encounter, claiming he was home with his daughter, Beatrice.
“I was at home,” the prince said. “I was with the children, and I’d taken Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking for a party at, I suppose, sort of 4 or 5 in the afternoon. And then, because the duchess was away, we have a simple rule in the family that when one is away the other one is there. I was on terminal leave at the time from the Royal Navy, so therefore I was at home.”
The prince’s interview was harshly criticized in the British press and, within days, he released a new statement conceding that his “former association” with Epstein had become a major distraction for the royal family, and he stepped back from official duties.
He vowed in that statement that he would be willing “to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations.”
But since then there have been complaints from the Southern District of New York that the prince has not cooperated with their requests to interview him as a witness for the federal investigation into sex trafficking by Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.
Prince Andrew’s lawyers, Blackfords LLP, however denied this, issuing a statement in June 2020 saying the prince had offered “his assistance as a witness to the DOJ” several times.
The beleaguered royal was last seen Tuesday arriving at his mother’s Scottish home, Balmoral Castle, accompanied by ex-wife Sarah Ferguson. Several UK newspapers are reporting that they are holding crisis talks, deliberating the best response to this lawsuit.
“Now that this lawsuit has been filed, unless it is stopped in its tracks, it doesn’t seem that any of the options for Prince Andrew and his legal team will be particularly palatable to him,” said ABC News Royal Contributor Victoria Murphy.
Legal opinions vary as to what the prince might do, but his options appear to be fourfold.
Firstly, he could ignore the entire thing, the case could go ahead without him and a possible default judgment and damages could be entered against him.
Secondly, he could instruct lawyers to argue that the case is spurious and lacking in evidence in the hopes it would be thrown out before trial.
Thirdly, he could agree to answer questions under oath, attend the trial and defend himself.
And lastly, he could agree to settle the claims out-of-court.
Each option has its own pitfall.
“No one could have predicted just how low Prince Andrew’s reputation could have plummeted in the last two to three years,” Murphy added. “The accusations that have been leveled against him, the fact they’ve been so widely reported and his attempts to draw a line under them spectacularly backfiring have all left his reputation in tatters — and has the potential to seriously impact people’s perception of the monarchy.”
No member of the royal family has made a public comment about the latest developments, and Buckingham Palace told ABC News that this was a legal matter and for Andrew’s lawyers to respond. A spokesman for Prince Andrew said there would be no comment on the new lawsuit.
The Times of London, however, quotes a source close to Prince Charles as saying, “This will be unwelcome reputational damage to the institution. [Prince Charles] has long ago concluded that it is probably an unsolvable problem. This will probably further strengthen in the prince’s mind that a way back for the duke is demonstrably not possible, because the spectre of this [accusation] raises its head with hideous regularity.”
The source also said, “The prince loves his brother and has the ability to have sympathy for the slings and arrows that his brother endures, whatever the reasons may be. His ability to support and feel for those having a tough time is well known.”
It is a difficult position for the family to be in, Murphy explains, as they may be tainted by association whatever they do.
“The monarchy has done everything they can to distance itself officially,” she said. “He has stepped down from official duties, Buckingham Palace no longer speaks for him and he’s not being represented by royal lawyers, but the fact is, he is still the queen’s son. He’s at Balmoral now. There’s no avoiding that this will continue to damage the image of the monarchy and could even affect the standing of other royals.”
Billy Idol became a grandfather for the first time last year, and the 65-year-old pop-punk singer tells People that the experience has enriched his life.
“It opens you up emotionally,” he says. “Everything is a new experience for her. In a way, I’m reliving those experiences myself.”
Idol’s daughter, Bonnie Broad, gave birth to a daughter of her own in May 2020. Billy says his one-year-old grandkkid, who’s named Poppy Rebel, is already a fan of his music.
“The other day she was bouncing up and down to ‘Rebel Yell,'” he says of his 1983 hit. “But of course, she also loves ‘Baby Shark.'”
The rocker, who just announced that he’ll be releasing a four-song EP next month titled The Roadside, says the downtime he had during the COVID-19 pandemic gave him the chance to spend some quality time with his granddaughter. He tells People that he’s been teaching the little one how to talk and walk.
“She can say ‘dude,’ ‘duck’ and ‘fish,'” he reports.
Last month, Billy posted an adorable video on his Instagram of Poppy feeding him blueberries.
Idol recently launched a run of 2021 U.S. tour dates that continues tonight with a show in Airway Heights, Washington. The trek winds down with a four-show Las Vegas residency in October.
The first trailer has been released for Introducing, Selma Blair, a Discovery+ documentary about actress Selma Blair‘s battle with multiple sclerosis.
The trailer shows raw and emotional moments of Selma dealing with symptoms of the illness and treatments for it, including chemotherapy. We see glimpses of the actress at some of her lowest points, as well as more joyful times spent her 10-year-old son, Arthur.
“I always thought I was on a reality show,” Selma says at the beginning of the trailer. “Like, I was in a documentary but only God would see it…and disapprove.”
The Cruel Intentions actress revealed her diagnosis in 2018. Earlier this week, she showed her love and support for her The Sweetest Thing co-star Christina Applegate after Applegate revealed her own MS diagnosis.
The Mayo Clinic describes MS as “a potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord.” Currently, there is no known cure, but there are treatments available that may alleviate some of the symptoms.
Introducing, Selma Blair will open in select theaters on October 15 and launch on Discovery+ on October 21.
