Selma Blair breaks silence after being accused of biting flight attendant and trying to open plane door mid-flight

Selma Blair has issued a video, personally addressing accusations for the first time.

It was previously reported that the Cruel Intentions actor had been arrested on 11 October, following accusations she had bitten a flight attendant and tried to open a plane door mid-flight.

Blair apologised that it’s ‘taken this long’ after being ‘quiet for a couple weeks’ since, as legal matters continue. She added that she takes this ‘very seriously’ and is listening to her lawyers’ advice.

The 54-year-old was detained when the Delta flight landed in New York earlier this month and was taken to hospital for evaluation. She then appeared in court on 12 October and pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree assault and was released on bail, with the next hearing set for January.

Blair breaks her silence

Appearing to fight back tears in the video, she said people ‘deserve to hear from me directly’ as she apologised for how ‘long’ it has taken.

“There is a legal matter going on, and my lawyers have asked me to not say anything about that day, and I'm listening to them. And I take this very seriously,” the Legally Blonde actor explained.

“What I can tell you, though, is very simple and the truest thing I know about myself and that not one day ever have I intended to hurt or frighten anyone a day in my life. And so to the people that I disappointed, that I hurt, that I frightened, alarmed, I am so sorry.”

Blair said those who have reached out and shown care, ‘has meant everything’ to herself and her son ‘who is her world’. She added that her service dog Scout, who was with her on the flight ‘is also okay’.

The star was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2018 and then got the Labrador as service dog five years ago.

“So right now I'm going to be taking care of my health and my son and thinking of you all with gratitude and love,” she concluded.

The arrest and charges

Blair pleaded not guilty in court to the state charges over allegations she kicked a nurse and a police officer following the incident onboard the flight.

At the time, her representatives said her alleged behaviour had been brought on by a severe medical emergency.

A police officer taking Blair to hospital alleged in charging documents that while securing her to a stretcher, the star pulled one of her legs from the straps and kicked her repeatedly around the face, neck and chest, causing serious pain and substantial swelling.

And a nurse moving the star alleged she kicked her in the chest.

Blair’s lawyer, Shawn Barnes, told the judge her actions were not intentional.

A statement later issued by her team said public reporting of the incident had been ‘built almost entirely on a police statement and a decade-old headline’.

“What Selma has been able to do physically in the years since is nothing short of a miracle,” it read.

“She still has bad days, and she lives with pain daily. Selma also has pseudobulbar affect, a neurological condition secondary to her MS, which bears directly on how a medical episode presents to people who do not know her.”

The LADbible Group has contacted representatives for Blair for comment.