NEW YORK (AP) — Actor Selma Blair did not intend to harm anyone during and after a flight in which she allegedly assaulted two flight attendantsa police officer and a nurse, according to a press release Friday from its representatives.
The lengthy statement sought to push back against what it saw as inaccurate and unsympathetic portrayals of Blair, 54, and the Delta flight from Los Angeles to New York on Sunday that led to his first arrest.
“Selma Blair suffered a medical emergency on board the flight,” the statement said. “There was no attempt to open the plane door. Selma did not intend to harm anyone.”
A previous statement as well as his lawyer’s remarks in court had briefly indicated that a medical emergency was to blame for everything that happened, but the new statement gave a more detailed defense.
Blair has multiple sclerosisand without specifying that she did so, the statement said it was “scandalous” for anyone to suggest she did not do so.
“His diagnosis has been public since 2018,” the statement said. “What Selma has been able to do physically in the years since is nothing short of a miracle. She still has bad days and lives with pain every day. Selma also suffers from pseudobulbar effect, a neurological condition secondary to her MS, which directly impacts how a medical episode presents to people who don’t know her.”
The statement added: “For the same reason, she travels with a service dog who does not leave her side, and the authorities took her dog away.”
The statement said she tirelessly advocated for the rights of people with disabilities and the MS community.
Blair was accused of injuring two flight attendants on the plane bound for John F. Kennedy Airport, then kicking a police officer who was taking her to the hospital and kicking a nurse once she arrived, according to a statement from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
She pleaded not guilty Monday to two counts of assaulting the police officer and nurse, and a judge issued an order of protection against them. She is out on bail and her next court date is in January.
The FBI also issued Blair a notice charging him with assault related to his actions aboard the plane, according to a federal law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
Authorities have released few details about what happened aboard the plane.
In airline communications, the Delta pilot asked the tower to have medical personnel waiting at the gate to treat bite marks and bloody noses, but said ambulances were not needed.
Blair, born in Michigan, began acting in New York in her early 20s. Her major film roles include 1999’s “Cruel Intentions,” 2001’s “Legally Blonde” and 2004’s “Hellboy.”
In 2016, Blair apologized for making statements she later regretted during a flight from Cancun to Los Angeles. She said she mixed alcohol with medication, causing her to pass out.
Friday’s statement said the public version of the most recent events “relies almost entirely on a police statement and a decade-old headline.”
“A handful of journalists took the time to talk about Selma as a human being rather than a headline, and we are grateful to them,” the statement said. “But fair reporting has been the exception, and in the space left by our silence, speculation has hardened and become something that is treated as fact.”
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Dalton reported from Los Angeles.
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