Selma Blair’s representative says the actress did not intend to hurt anyone during the airplane incident that led to her arrest, disputing reports that she tried to open an aircraft door and asking that her medical history be considered alongside the allegations.
In a statement issued Friday and reported by NBC News, her representative said Blair “experienced a medical emergency on the flight” and “did not intend to harm anyone.” The statement added: “There was no attempt to open the door of the aircraft.”
Blair, 54, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree assault. Those state charges concern allegations that she kicked a police officer and a hospital nurse after being removed from the flight, rather than the alleged encounters with flight attendants in the cabin.
The incident occurred Sunday, Oct. 11, on a Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles to New York. Blair was taken into custody at John F. Kennedy International Airport and transported to a hospital. Authorities said two flight attendants were injured, with one taken to a hospital. The allegations have not been established at trial.
According to the criminal affidavit described by NBC News, Blair allegedly kicked a Port Authority police officer in the face, neck and chest while he was securing her on a stretcher for transport. A nurse later said Blair kicked her in the chest at the hospital. These allegations form the immediate context for the not-guilty plea.
The representative’s statement challenged the public account of the episode, not just individual details. The spokesperson said coverage had been built largely around a police statement and an older headline, and urged people not to treat speculation as established fact. The statement was Blair’s team’s account, rather than an independent finding about what happened.
In the statement published by The Hollywood Reporter, her team also said authorities separated Blair from the service dog that travels with her. The representative said Blair continues to experience pain and difficult days despite her physical progress since disclosing her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 2018.
The spokesperson said Blair also has pseudobulbar affect, describing it as a neurological condition secondary to her MS. That diagnosis and its significance to the flight incident were assertions made by her representative; the statement did not itself resolve the factual or legal questions raised by the assault allegations.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke’s information on MS says inappropriate and involuntary expressions of laughter, crying or anger, called pseudobulbar symptoms, are sometimes associated with the disease. That general medical description does not establish why a particular person acted as alleged during a specific incident.
The actress, known for “Legally Blonde” and “Cruel Intentions,” has continued working while publicly discussing life with MS. Her representative said in the statement published by The Hollywood Reporter that she had worked on seven film and television projects in 2026, including projects not yet announced, and pointed to her disability advocacy. That description of her work came from her team.
Friday’s statement placed her denial of harmful intent and the disputed door-opening account on the record while the assault case remains unresolved. Her plea is not guilty; the medical explanation and the police allegations remain accounts to be tested, not interchangeable statements of established fact.
