{"id":3057,"date":"2026-06-06T19:49:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T19:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/06\/06\/disneys-naomi-bulochnikov-paul-opens-up-about-ms-battle-you-can-live-in-fear-or-you-can-live-in-power-every-day-i-choose-the-latter\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T19:49:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T19:49:00","slug":"disneys-naomi-bulochnikov-paul-opens-up-about-ms-battle-you-can-live-in-fear-or-you-can-live-in-power-every-day-i-choose-the-latter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/06\/06\/disneys-naomi-bulochnikov-paul-opens-up-about-ms-battle-you-can-live-in-fear-or-you-can-live-in-power-every-day-i-choose-the-latter\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney\u2019s Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul Opens Up About MS Battle: \u201cYou Can Live in Fear or You Can Live in Power \u2014 Every Day I Choose the Latter\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\tAfter spending most of her career behind the scenes, Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul took center stage at the Race to Erase MS Gala on Friday night. <\/p>\n

\tBulochnikov-Paul, who serves as executive vp of communications at Disney<\/a> Entertainment Television, was honored with <\/a>the Medal of Hope at the event, in recognition of her battle with multiple sclerosis. Upon receiving her award from MS advocate and Center Without Walls founder\u00a0Nancy Davis, the exec admitted, \u201cWhen Nancy first asked me to do this, I hesitated \u2014 not because I didn\u2019t want to, but because I was afraid. Will people look at me differently? Is this bad for my career? Will my kids worry about me?\u201d \t<\/p>\n

\tBut, she continued, \u201cI knew that being here tonight was important, and I decided I wasn\u2019t going to let MS define me. I\u2019ve spent my entire career in communication, I know how to own a narrative, and I sure as hell was going to own mine.\u201d <\/p>\n

\tBulochnikov-Paul noted how she\u2019s been introduced to a beautiful community since she was diagnosed, and particularly pointed to her colleagues at Disney for their support, going all the way up to the top. She told the room at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel how Dana Walden<\/a>, Disney\u2019s president and chief creative officer, \u201ccame to my first doctor\u2019s appointment with a notebook and a pen like it was the most important meeting of her day. After the appointment, she asked me if I wanted to take some time off. I said no because what I needed in that moment was normalcy, and what she said next put me down the path that brought me here. She said, \u2018MS doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s coming for it.’\u201d \t<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

\t\t\t \t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>

\t \t\t\t\t\tDebra O\u2019Connell, Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul, Nancy Davis, Dana Walden and Casey Walden at the event.<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJoe Scarnici\/Getty Images for Race to Erase MS<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\tWalden also helped Bulochnikov-Paul find her doctor, as she explained, \u201cThe things that filled my days beforehand, none of that was going to change. I was going to keep doing my job and doing it well. And Dana, thank you for never expecting anything less.\u201d The communications vet also gave a shout out to Disney Entertainment Television chairman Debra OConnell, \u201cwho is always in my corner at all hours \u2014 especially the hours when normal people are asleep,\u201d as well as to her husband and their three sons.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cAt the end of the day, none of us know what happens tomorrow,\u201d Bulochnikov-Paul said in closing. \u201cAll any of us can do is choose how we live. You can live in fear or you can live in power \u2014 every day I choose the latter.\u201d <\/p>\n

\tThe event raised over $1.8 million to benefit\u00a0Race to Erase MS\u00a0and its\u00a0Center Without Walls\u00a0program, a collaboration of top MS research centers working together to treat and ultimately cure MS.\u00a0Jesse Palmer served as host of the evening, which also featured performances Ty Dolla $ign, Rachel Platten,\u00a0Richie Sambora and Dancing With the Stars\u00a0<\/em>pros\u00a0Alan Bersten\u00a0and\u00a0Emma Slater, as well as a fashion show from\u00a0L\u2019AGENCE.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After spending most of her career behind the scenes, Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul took center stage at the Race to Erase MS Gala on Friday night. Bulochnikov-Paul, who serves as executive vp of communications at Disney Entertainment Television, was honored with the Medal of Hope at the event, in recognition of her battle with multiple sclerosis. Upon receiving her award from MS advocate and Center Without Walls founder\u00a0Nancy Davis, the exec admitted, \u201cWhen Nancy first asked me to do this, I hesitated \u2014 not because I didn\u2019t want to, but because I was afraid. Will people look at me differently? Is this bad for my career? Will my kids worry about me?\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1815,152,249,65,2,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dana-walden","category-disney","category-events","category-general-news","category-hollywood","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}