OMM Newsroom
US actress Selma Blair has spoken out after being accused of assaulting several people aboard a flight to New York, saying she “did not intend to harm anyone”.
In a statement to the BBC, Blair’s representative said she experienced a medical emergency during the flight and was still living with multiple sclerosis (MS). The representative said there was “much more to this story”.
The statement said Blair, 54, has a neurological disorder that “bears directly on how a medical episode presents to people who do not know her”. Her team said the public account of what happened aboard a “Delta Airlines” flight had been based “almost entirely on a police statement and a decade-old headline”. They also denied media reports that she had tried to open the aircraft door.
Blair has pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting an officer and a nurse after being taken off the plane. She was also accused of assaulting two flight attendants aboard the aircraft.
The actress revealed in 2018 that she had MS and announced in 2021 that the disease was in remission. Her representative said the “Hellboy” and “Cruel Intentions” star “still has bad days” and continues to experience daily pain. The statement described her physical achievements since her diagnosis as “nothing short of a miracle”.
Blair also has pseudobulbar affect (PBA), a disorder that develops in the context of brain injury or underlying neurological dysfunction, according to the US National Institutes of Health. It can affect emotional expression, causing sudden, involuntary and uncontrollable episodes of laughing, crying or anger that do not reflect how a person actually feels.
“Selma had never been arrested before Sunday night,” the statement said. “There is much more to this story than has been reported, and we ask to consider the entirety of the facts before rushing to judgment, whether in the courtroom or in the court of public opinion.”
The incident happened on a flight from Los Angeles to New York on Sunday evening. New York airport officials responded to a report of “a physically abusive passenger” aboard the “Delta Airlines” flight. Two flight attendants were injured, and one was taken to hospital, the New York Port Authority said.
According to audio recorded by air traffic control and obtained by CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, a pilot requested medical assistance and described “a bloody nose” and “some bite marks”.
Blair was arrested and taken to hospital. The FBI issued her a federal summons on a charge of assault within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the US, relating to the incident aboard the plane. Two additional assault charges were filed in state court after she was removed from the aircraft. She has pleaded not guilty to those charges and was released on bail.
