Exclusive Portrait: Selma Blair on New Memoir ‘Mean Baby’ at Chicago Humanities Festival

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CHICAGO – The celebrity on the cover of the latest issue of People Magazine is Selma Blair. The actor has just released her memoir “Mean Baby” and talked about it at the Chicago Humanities Festival on May 14th, while photographed by Joe Arce for HollywoodChicago.com.

“Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up” has Selma Blair in her many roles, including the ingenue in “Cruel Intentions, the preppy ice queen in “Legally Blonde,” muse to Karl Lagerfeld and advocate for the multiple sclerosis community … a disease that also afflicts her. In a memoir that is funny and emotionally shattering, Blair tells the captivating story of growing up and finding her truth.  

Selma Blair at Chicago Humanities Festival, May 14th, 2022
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Selma Blair was born in Michigan, and after high school she moved to New York City to attend NYU, but finished her degree at the University of Michigan. Returning to New York, she studied acting and landed her first professional TV role on “The Adventures of Pete & Pete.” Her debut film was “In and Out” (1997), but her breakthrough wasn’t until 1999 with the cult classic “Cruel Intentions” as Cecile, which garnered an MTV Movie Award nomination for “Best Breakthrough Performance.”

Other roles in prominent films include “Legally Blonde,” “The Sweetest Thing,” “Hellboy” (and three sequels), “Sex, Death and Bowling” and last year’s documentary about her life, “Introducing Selma Blair.” She announced her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in 2018, while working on the Netflix series “Another Life.” Her memoir was just published, and she will appear on “The View” on May 19th, 2022.

The Chicago Humanities Festival (CHF) is a Windy City institution that began in 1959, to express the rich ideas of the humanities to a wider public audience.Their mission is connecting people to the ideas that shape and define us, and promotes the lifelong exploration of what it means to be human. CHF fosters curiosity, celebrates creativity, explores the boundaries of contemporary knowledge and culture, and challenges us to see ourselves and the world anew.

By PATRICK McDONALD Editor and Film Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com