US actress Selma Blair has spoken out after being accused of assaulting multiple people on a flight travelling to New York.
A publicist for the Legally Blonde star said she “did not intend to harm anyone” and there was “much more to this story”. Blair “experienced a medical emergency on the flight” and is still fighting multiple sclerosis (MS), the statement read.
The statement says that Blair, 54, has a neurological disorder that “bears directly on how a medical episode presents to people who do not know her”.
The star pleaded not guilty to charges that she assaulted an officer and a nurse after being removed from the flight. She was also accused of assulting two flight attendants on board.
In a statement to the BBC, Blair’s team said the public account of what happened to her aboard a Delta Airlines flight to New York “has been built almost entirely on a police statement and a decade-old headline”. They also denied media reports that she had attempted to open the door of the aircraft.
The publicist noted Blair’s fight against multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic illness the actress revealed publicly in 2018. She announced in 2021 that she was in remission for the disease, but the statement notes that the Hellboy and Cruel Intentions star “still has bad days”.
It adds that she also has pseudobulbar affect (PBA) – a disorder that develops in the context of a brain injury or underlying neurological dysfunction, according to the US National Institutes of Health.
The disorder affects emotional expression that can result in sudden involuntary, and out-of-control episodes of laughing, crying, or anger that do not match how a person actually feels.
She described Blair’s physical achievements since her MS diagnosis as “nothing short of a miracle” and noted that she still lives with pain daily.
“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 travelling from Los Angeles to New York on Sunday evening. New York airport officials responded to a call about “a physically abusive passenger” on a Delta Airlines flight. Two flight attendants were hurt and one was taken to hospital, the New York Port Authority said.
A pilot asked for medical help, describing “a bloody nose” and “some bite marks”, according to audio recorded on air traffic control obtained by CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.
Blair was arrested and taken to hospital. She was issued a federal summons by the FBI for a charge of assault within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the US that relates to the on-board altercation.
The two additional charges of assault were filed in state court after she was taken off the plane. She has pleaded not guilty to those charges and was released on bail.
By BBC News
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