Selma Blair exits 'Dancing with the Stars' due to health issues

Actor Selma Blair bid a tearful voluntary farewell to "Dancing with the Stars" Monday, almost four years to the day since she disclosed she has the degenerative disease multiple sclerosis (MS).

In a prerecorded segment in a rehearsal studio for the Disney+ dance competition, Blair, 50, told her ballroom-pro partner Sasha Farber, "I've been monitored and in touch with my doctors this whole process … . I had these MRIs and the results came back and it just all adds up to … I can't go on with the competition. Pushed as far as I could. … I'm sorry, Sash," she told the dancer as he clasped her hands and bowed his head.

In an insert to the camera, Blair explained that, "With a chronic illness, you do have special considerations. And my body is definitely taking a hit. It's way too much for the safety of my bones. There is just intensive bone trauma and inflammation among rips and tears, so I could do extensive damage that of course I do not want."

In her segment with Farber she told him, "I really want to have a last beautiful dance with you and bow out."

"If you want to dance," he replied, "it would be my honor. My main worry is your health. You're my champion."

She and Farber performed a waltz set to "What the World Needs Now Is Love," the 1965 Jackie DeShannon hit by songwriters Hal David and Burt Bacharach, leaving the judges, fellow competitors and audience members in tears.

"This competition is tough for everyone," judge Len Goodman told her afterward. "But if the others have climbed hills, you have climbed mountains." The routine scored a perfect 40.

"I came into the competition late, right before we started," Blair told co-host Alfonso Ribeiro with her 11-year-old son, Arthur, by her side. "And I had really been on almost bed rest except for getting on my horse … . So I definitely was so excited to get into being so active and learning something and having those [dance] recital dreams that I had as a little girl. But it's a lot on your body." She added, "Mine is fine. I'm going to be OK. There are little tears and little stress fractures but I don't want there to be something serious."

On the dance floor after the episode, she tearfully told the entertainment news program "Extra" that leaving was "crushing. Because I just haven’t had this kind of love and activity and support in a really long time."