A post on Andy Kiernan's social media account called on followers to keep Selma Blair in their thoughts after an incident occurred aboard a flight. Blair, 54, faced arrest on Sunday following accusations that she struck cabin crew members and attempted to force open a door while the aircraft was airborne.
Kiernan, who has been in an on-again, off-again relationship with Blair, addressed the matter publicly through his Instagram Stories on Tuesday. He described Blair as someone with a compassionate nature who would benefit from support, and urged followers to keep her in their thoughts, adding that the support she requires had not yet been made available to her.
Blair and Kiernan were reported to have been seen together for the first time in 2024, with the nature of their current relationship unconfirmed. A social media post also called on followers to extend goodwill toward Blair, describing her as deserving of the same compassion afforded to anyone else.
During a 2024 interview, Blair mentioned that a romantic relationship had taken shape in her personal life, though she kept the man's identity private, noting only that he works outside the entertainment industry despite having production credits to his name. She separately told a television channel that she had been looking for a partner from the Midwest, had met someone who fit that description, had noticed him across a table, and that he was now her boyfriend.
Blair appeared before Queens Criminal Court in New York on Monday in jeans and a white hooded sweatshirt, with restraints on her wrists, and at times appeared visibly unsettled throughout the proceedings. She entered a not-guilty plea to two counts of second-degree assault — charges stemming from an alleged altercation involving a nurse and a police officer.
Defence attorney Shawn Barnes put forward to the court that the episode had not been a deliberate act and that Blair had missed several doses of a prescribed medication used to treat a neurological condition. Barnes also disclosed that Blair's neurological picture extended beyond multiple sclerosis to include a Parkinsonism diagnosis — an umbrella term for a cluster of nervous system conditions whose hallmark features include tremors, muscle stiffness, and involuntary movement.
Blair received a multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 2018 and has spoken openly about living with the condition in the years that followed. In a recent interview with a prominent broadcaster, Blair described her condition as free of relapses and said her overall health had been positive.
A second defence attorney, Joshua Reitzas, described Blair's professional record and contributions to others in notably positive terms. Judge Kahn stated that Blair's status as a public figure did not entitle her to preferential treatment, after which bail was set at $20,000 in cash, or alternatively a $60,000 bond or partially secured bond.
Blair's defence team told the court that she had spent long hours on a film set in the days before the flight and that at some point during the journey she fell and struck her head. A court date for Blair has been set for 19 January.
Under New York's sentencing framework, a guilty verdict on the state-level assault charges — covering the alleged attacks on both the nurse and the police officer — would expose Blair to a prison term of as many as seven years. A hearing date in the federal proceedings against her has yet to be scheduled.
Federal charges tied to allegations that two flight attendants were hurt during a Los Angeles-to-New York flight are also pending against Blair. According to unnamed sources who spoke with a prominent broadcast outlet, Blair is anticipated to answer the federal counts before a petty violations tribunal in Brooklyn.
The court additionally issued a temporary restraining order protecting the nurse who told authorities Blair had kicked her in the chest. In a sworn affidavit, the nurse — identified as DeLeo, a registered nurse — described sustaining a kick to the chest from Blair during the process of transporting the patient to a higher level of care and experiencing considerable pain in her chest as a result.
A court-imposed order keeps Blair at least 100 yards from DeLeo at all times, with any form of contact between them prohibited. That order remains binding through October 11, 2027.
A summons tied to assault allegations within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States was delivered to Blair by the FBI, according to a law enforcement source. A bureau spokesperson noted that all assaults occurring on aircraft fall under the FBI's jurisdiction and that the agency has opened an inquiry into the matter. Port Authority Police Department officers separately alerted authorities to a possible assault that had taken place on the flight upon its landing at JFK. The Department of Justice cited longstanding policy against commenting on active investigations.
According to accounts put forward at the time, Blair attempted to handle the exit door of the aircraft while it was still airborne, on a flight bound for John F. Kennedy International Airport from Los Angeles International Airport, a move that brought her into a dispute with cabin crew. Blair is alleged to have struck one member of the cabin crew and used her teeth on another.
Radio traffic recordings obtained from the flight's arrival showed that personnel on the ground were asked to have medical staff standing by, as two members of the crew required attention. A follow-up radio transmission described a passenger as having sustained a bloody nose and bite marks, while a separate message raised the possibility that she had struck her head against the bulkhead.
A Delta representative noted in a statement that the airline maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward disruptive or unlawful conduct, with the safety of passengers and crew treated as the overriding priority. After being removed from the aircraft, Blair is alleged to have freed her leg from the straps of a stretcher and directed kicks toward the face, neck, and chest of a Port Authority Police Officer while being transported by ambulance from Terminal 4 at JFK Airport. Following her transport to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, Blair is reported to have struck DeLeo with her foot.
Prosecutors noted that visible swelling on the officer's jaw accompanied complaints of pain from both the officer and the nurse following the altercation. According to a Port Authority statement, officers from the PAPD were called to JFK Airport around 11 p.m. on Sunday, October 11, after reports came in of a passenger behaving in a physically aggressive manner on board Delta Airlines flight 938, which had arrived from LAX and was still at the gate. Authorities named Selma Blair, 54, as the person under suspicion. A mental health assessment followed after officers brought her in for evaluation. Of the two cabin crew members who sustained injuries, one required a hospital transfer for additional medical assessment.
Blair offered a public apology in 2016 after an episode on a Delta flight returning from Cancun, where she was reported to have combined alcohol with medication. She later told reporters that she had made a mistake the previous day. Speaking to a news outlet, Blair attributed her loss of consciousness and subsequent behaviour — which she described as a source of regret — to a mixture of alcohol and medication taken during a trip with her son and his father. She noted that her son had been asleep in a separate room with headphones on throughout the incident.
Blair issued a statement at the time reading: "The gravity of the situation is not lost on me, and I want to extend my apologies to every passenger and crew member whose experience was disrupted, along with my gratitude to those who stepped in to offer assistance afterward." She expressed that personal failings are part of her nature and that deep regret weighs on her in connection with what took place.
Blair went public with her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 2018, a condition in which the central nervous system sustains nerve damage that disrupts electrical signalling within the brain. Among the effects linked to MS are disruptions to muscle function, shifts in vision, patches of numbness, and lapses in memory. In a post shared on social media at that time, she disclosed that she had received the diagnosis.
Blair attributed her continued employment at Netflix to a combination of personal determination and accommodating producers. She described a disability as shaping her daily experience, noting that occasional stumbles and dropping things occur with a degree of regularity, and that details about that period have grown hazy over time. Brushing aside questions about what the future held, she told reporters her intention was to put in everything she had — remarks delivered from behind a cane that had become part of her daily routine as her health demanded.
