Selma Blair speaks out after JFK arrest, assault charges

Selma Blair wants to set the record straight on a mid-flight episode earlier this week, during which she is accused of biting a flight attendant, then later attacking a nurse and a police officer on the ground.

The “Cruel Intentions” actress was arrested late Sunday night at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City before being rushed to an area hospital for treatment. She has since pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree assault, and she was subsequently released on bail.

“Since Sunday night, the public account of what happened to Selma aboard a flight to New York has been built almost entirely on a police statement and a decade-old headline,” her spokesperson said in a statement to People on Friday.

“A handful of journalists have taken the time to report on Selma as a human being rather than a headline, and we are grateful to them,” it continued. “But fair reporting has been the exception, and in the space left by our silence, speculation has hardened into something being treated as fact. We can, however, correct the record on a few points already in public circulation.”

The statement went on to emphasize that 54-year-old Blair — who suffers from multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease — “experienced a medical emergency on the flight,” adding that she made “no attempt to open the door” of the Delta Airlines aircraft, which was traveling from Los Angeles to New York.

During an appearance at Queens Criminal Court earlier this week, Blair’s lawyer, Shawn Barnes, told the judge she’d missed several doses of “a powerful medication” that she takes to manage her severe neurological symptoms, and that she struck her head during the flight.

“Selma did not intend to harm anyone,” her spokesperson added Friday.

Two flight attendants were injured during the on-flight chaos, one of who was treated at a hospital. Blair was also accused of repeatedly kicking a police officer and a nurse in the chest.

“There is much more to this story than has been reported,” the spokesperson concluded, “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.”