Actress Selma Blair says she 'did not intend to harm anyone' in plane altercation
A publicist for the actress said the incident stemmed from a "medical emergency" and said she has a neurological disorder that can cause out-of-control responses.
Actress Selma Blair says she 'did not intend to harm anyone' in plane altercation
US actress Selma Blair has responded after being accused of assaulting several people on a flight bound for New York.
A publicist for the Legally Blonde star said she "did not intend to harm anyone" and that there was "much more to this story". The statement said Blair "experienced a medical emergency on the flight" and is still battling multiple sclerosis (MS).
It said 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 tried to open the aircraft door.
The publicist highlighted Blair's struggle with multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic illness the actress disclosed publicly in 2018. She said in 2021 that she was in remission from the disease, but the statement says the Hellboy and Cruel Intentions star "still has bad days".
It also says she 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 and can lead to 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 said she still lives with pain every day.
"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 took place on a flight 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 injured and one was taken to hospital, the New York Port Authority said.
A pilot requested medical assistance, 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 assault charges were filed in state court after she was removed from the plane. She has pleaded not guilty to those charges and was released on bail.