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"Legally Blonde" Star Facing 7 Years Behind Bars For Kicking, Biting, Punching Meltdown · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Tonight, the legally blonde movie star, Selma Blair, facing a
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: long seven years behind bars and exorbitant fines for kicking, biting,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: punching in the midst of a mid-air meltdown. Spoiler alert,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I'm taking her side. Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: with us.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Actress Selma Blair is arrested and charged with second-degree assault
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: following a violent altercation aboard a Delta Airlines flight that
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: leaves multiple people injured.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Okay, I think I'm still taking Selma's side. Guys, with me,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: an all-star panel to make sense of what we are
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: learning tonight The movie star we all grew up loving,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Selma Blair, starring in not only Legally Blonde, but so
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: many other big budget movies, handcuffed and in court, facing
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: seven years behind bars. Now, we all know that when
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: outbursts occur mid-air, there are so many more layers of
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: threat and danger happening. But what really happened and why?
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: To Alexis Tereschuk joining us out of L.A., this is
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: her jurisdiction's Crime Stories investigative reporter. Alexis, what happened? Now, listen,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: I'm willing to accept her defense that she was off
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: her MS meds, multiple sclerosis, because they are extremely powerful drugs.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: But I got to find out the truth. Right now,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: knowing what I know about those meds, I'm on her side.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: But I don't know all the facts yet. So Alexis,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: fill me in. What happened?
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: She took a plane from Los Angeles to New York.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: On the airplane, her attorney says that she fell and
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: hit her head. As you said, she has MS. She
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: has been very open publicly about her struggles with MS.
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: It has been more than a decade for her. It
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: took so long to get diagnosed. She finally has it diagnosed.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: She did not take her medicine before embarking on this
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: cross-country flight. It is very important. Multiple medicines. She needs,
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: this is very powerful. And therefore she, then she fell
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: on the plane, which as you've seen from her, she
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: doesn't walk very well. She needs a cane. Sometimes she
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: has the guard dog with her sometimes, but here on
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: the plane, she falls and then she attacks the flight attendants.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: And this was all just because she had fallen and
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: she had hit her head. She didn't have her medicine.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: She was really having a serious medical crisis, like a
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: mental breakdown. The flight wasn't, delayed. It didn't turn around.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: It didn't have to land in a different city. It
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: still landed in New York. And then when they landed,
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: the police were called because she was so out of control.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: And she in turn then kicked a police officer, I
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: believe in the chest. I think she bit somebody on
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: the plane. Then when she was taken to the hospital,
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: because obviously she was having a medical emergency. See, they
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: didn't take her right to jail at all. They took
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: her to the hospital where she needed to be. And
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: she also kicked a nurse.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Hit her head on a bulkhead. What's a bulkhead? An
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: upright partition. It's like a mini wall. It can be
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: dropped structural element and it divides different compartments on a
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: plane like all of us drive in coach from first
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: class or comfort. It blocks water or fire in the
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: event of an emergency. It conceals utility lines. It's kind
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: of an internal division like a wall that you see
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: on planes. Now, Alexis Therese Chuck, Crime Stories investigative reporter
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: joining us out of LA, just stated, well, a lot,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: a lot of facts in this scenario. For those of
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: you just joining us, movie star Selma Blair looking at
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: seven years behind bars, handcuffed in court, looking at Tens
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: of thousands of dollars of fines. The last one that's
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: similar to this was around $ 80, 000 in fines, which I'm
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: going to bring, which I'm going to throw to Nima
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Romani in a moment. But I have some corroboration for her,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Selma Blair's story that she hit her head. And I'm
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: getting it from the plane pilot.
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: Okay, Delta 938 Heavy, we do have paramedics approaching the
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: gate right now, and there are law enforcement already at
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: the gate.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: And then one additional add-on, it sounds like the disruptive
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: passenger also bashed her head on the bulkhead or something
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: like that. So we'll obviously have to get her potentially
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: checked out as well as involved with law enforcement.
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: Understood. I'll pass that along to PAPD.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: Okay, thank you.
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: No!
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: No! Oh, my stars. She sounds like she is in
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: pain and mental anguish. Not like she is attacking somebody
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: because she's saying, please don't. That's my dolly. Okay, Dave Mack,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: also Crime Stories investigative reporter on the case. What do
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: we know? Why is Selma Blair screaming like that?
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: Well, Nancy, at this point, you know, the whole interaction
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: began with a disagreement. Now, we don't know what this
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: disagreement slash argument was about. But what we have been
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: told is that this was brought on by Selma Blair
• 6:15
  Speaker 5: missing medication. And we've talked a little bit about MS.
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: But listen, Nancy, the medication that she's missing, and I
• 6:21
  Speaker 5: don't know how to pronounce this, but it's Nudextra. This
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: is a medication that is used to treat PBA, pseudobulbar effect, okay?
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: It's a neurological condition involving the involuntary episodes of laughing
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: or crying. Now, we're hearing the screaming going on. She
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: sounds to me as if she's in fear. Those are
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: not just crying out of pain. They are fearful screams.
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: And it just seems like she has really come unglued
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: on this flight. She did hit her head into the bulkhead.
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: That's where her injury comes from. But Nancy, this disagreement
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: with another passenger that escalated into biting where one of
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: the flight attendants had to be hospitalized. This was not
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: just some simple little argument takedown.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Put him up right now. Dave Mack. There's a big
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: difference in being hospitalized the way you just said it
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: like Ted Baxter on Mary Tyler Moore. Hospitalized. Did she stay?
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Did the flight attendant? And look, I always take the
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: side of Delta, but I need to know this. Did
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: she stay overnight? Or did she show up and they
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: squirted her with a little Neosporin and go, bye? Because
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: the way you said it sounded like a lethal bite.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: And I just don't think that's accurate.
• 7:48
  Speaker 5: I don't know how long she stayed in the hospital.
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: It's just that she was hospitalized, Nancy.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: You said hospitalized. There hasn't been any details. There's a
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: big difference in staying for a week with intravenous feeding
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: tubes and getting a squirt of alcohol spray and a Band-Aid.
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: Sure.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: You know what you just reminded me of? You reminded
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: me of Alex Murdoch when his lawyers came out and
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: said he had a brain injury and he showed up
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: from a... a self-orchestrated gunshot wound, and he showed up
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: in court wearing a Band-Aid. So get your facts straight,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Dave Mack.
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: I can only go by what we've been told about
• 8:25
  Speaker 5: the reporting, which is she was hospitalized.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Okay, thank you, Ted Baxter. Thank you so much. Let's
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: listen to more of what the pilot said contemporaneously.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: We'd like to have some medical personnel at the gate
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: for a couple of the FAs involved in the passenger incident.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: They just need to get a couple things looked at.
• 8:45
  Speaker 6: Okay, I will pass that along.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Just get an estimated station count for me, please.
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: How many ambulances will need?
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: No ambulances, just some medical personnel available for two flight
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: attendants at the gate should be fine.
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: I know you're busy, but just had a couple of
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: questions for you for paperwork purposes. The passenger, the abusive passenger,
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: did that result in the two flight attendants that are
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: requested paramedics?
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: From the info I've got, it sounds like there were two, yeah,
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: one flight attendant and one passenger that sustained some minor injuries,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: a bloody nose as well as some bite marks as well.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: So I don't think we need an ambulance or anything
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: like that, but we just need to get some medical
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: personnel at the gate to look at their injuries.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: I can't tell anything really from what that captain is saying.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Nima Rahmani joining us, former federal prosecutor turned trial lawyer,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: president of the West Coast Trial Lawyers, author of Harvard
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: to Hashtag. Have you ever noticed the Delta pilots are
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: always so incredibly calm? Yeah, nothing to worry about here,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: just missing the tail. You know, they're so calm. So
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: I never know if it's serious or not when they
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: start telling me why we're dropping altitude. Did you hear
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: how calm he is?
• 10:01
  Speaker 6: Oh, they're very calm because they're in the comfort of
• 10:08
  Speaker 6: their secluded area. But look, I don't think the flight
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: attendants were calm when Selma Blair was biting them and
• 10:15
  Speaker 6: scratching them. I don't care if they're in first class
• 10:19
  Speaker 6: or in economy. You know, they deserve to do their
• 10:22
  Speaker 6: job without a Hollywood actress who's getting, I think, some
• 10:27
  Speaker 6: celebrity treatment attacking them. And look, Nancy, this isn't her
• 10:31
  Speaker 6: first time. And last time, what was her excuse? I
• 10:34
  Speaker 6: was on the meds and I was on alcohol. This time, oh,
• 10:38
  Speaker 6: I wasn't on my meds. And I want to be
• 10:39
  Speaker 6: sympathetic to MS, but I don't think there's any excuse
• 10:43
  Speaker 6: or justification here.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Are you suggesting that Selma Blair.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Has a biting issue?
• 10:51
  Speaker 6: Well, she certainly has a flying issue. And this has
• 10:54
  Speaker 6: fooled me twice, Nancy. I don't want to fly next
• 10:56
  Speaker 6: to Selma Blair. Bottom line, she should not be on
• 10:59
  Speaker 6: an airplane. This is the second time she's had a problem.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Well, I frankly don't think she has invited you to
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: fly next to her. Look, I'm on your side regarding
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: the flight attendants. They put up with H-E-L-L. I'm on
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: their side. But I want to find out what happened.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: I do have to grudgingly admit that Selma Blair may
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: have a biting issue.
• 11:21
  Speaker 7: I grabbed her arm and bit it, playfully, as if
• 11:25
  Speaker 7: it were an apple. Even as I held her forearm
• 11:29
  Speaker 7: in my mouth, I was aghast at myself. I thought,
• 11:34
  Speaker 7: what have I gotten myself into?
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Or her? This is horrible behavior.
• 11:40
  Speaker 7: I have very sharp canines, but Sienna couldn't have been
• 11:44
  Speaker 7: more charming. She kind of screamed, Opa, as I do
• 11:49
  Speaker 7: whenever someone breaks a plate. You bit me, didn't you?
• 11:54
  Speaker 7: You really did, she said in her charming accent. She
• 11:58
  Speaker 7: didn't shame me. He proceeded to introduce me to Seth MacFarlane.
• 12:03
  Speaker 7: I love Seth MacFarlane. I was starstruck. What do I
• 12:07
  Speaker 7: do in public situations where I admire someone but feel
• 12:11
  Speaker 7: as if I don't bring anything to the party? I
• 12:14
  Speaker 7: bit him on the hand. Whoa, he yelled, that really hurt.
• 12:18
  Speaker 7: It wasn't a disaster. I didn't break skin, but I
• 12:23
  Speaker 7: soon hated myself. The first and only person to bite
• 12:28
  Speaker 7: me back was Kate Moss, and I bit her finger.
• 12:31
  Speaker 7: She laughed, and because she laughed, I did it again.
• 12:36
  Speaker 7: The second time, she did not laugh. With annoyance, she
• 12:40
  Speaker 7: took her other hand, the one I hadn't bitten, and
• 12:43
  Speaker 7: punched me on the back. That really hurt, she said.
• 12:46
  Speaker 7: Then she bit me back. She grabbed my thumb and
• 12:49
  Speaker 7: crunched right into it.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Okay, Nima Romani, you got me over a barrel here because,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: by the way, that was Selma Blair in her own
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: words reading her book, that's Random House Audio. In some circles, mine,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: we would call that similar transactions.
• 13:08
  Speaker 6: Oh, no question. She's got a history. She's got a
• 13:10
  Speaker 6: biting problem, Nancy, and it's not cute. She's got a
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: biting problem. She's got a flying problem. I don't want
• 13:15
  Speaker 6: to be anywhere near Selma Blair. So with all due
• 13:20
  Speaker 6: respect and sympathy to her diagnosis.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: I don't know why you keep saying that. You act
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: like she invited you over for dinner and you're going
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: to be at the head.
• 13:27
  Speaker 6: Of the table.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Nobody has invited you to fly with Selma Blair or
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: sit next to her.
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: Well, I don't think anyone. Anyone should be near her.
• 13:36
  Speaker 6: Anyone should be on a flight with her. She needs
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: to fly private or fix her anxiety, whatever the issue
• 13:44
  Speaker 6: is with her being on planes, because now she's just
• 13:48
  Speaker 6: a danger to everyone. She's a risk. And I think
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: she's getting.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Some sort of flight attendant and got a squirt of
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: antibiotic and you and Dave Mack act like they had surgery.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: But I do have to, you know, When you try
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: a case, you not only prepare your case, you anticipate
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: the other side's case so you can shoot it down
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: as soon as they utter one word regarding it. And
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: this biting, let me just say, situation, some people would
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: argue it is a pattern, a course of conduct that
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: has now reared its ugly head in the form of
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: a felony mid-air. Well, it's not that big.
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: Of a secret.
• 14:30
  Speaker 8: This is a list of people bitten by Selma Blair
• 14:33
  Speaker 8: because I need you guys to understand that this is not.
• 14:36
  Speaker 9: The first time. She's a biter. We've been knowing this.
• 14:40
  Speaker 8: So, Sienna Miller, in 2006, she bit her at the Chateau.
• 14:46
  Speaker 8: Seth MacFarlane, she mentioned this in her own memoir, along
• 14:49
  Speaker 8: with Kate Moss, bit her too. And then, you know,
• 14:54
  Speaker 8: just for good measure, I put the unnamed flight attendant
• 14:58
  Speaker 8: on the flight. I don't know if she bit the
• 15:01
  Speaker 8: flight attendants the last time she got strapped to a
• 15:04
  Speaker 8: gurney and taken off of a plane.
• 15:11
  Speaker 9: But in case you were wondering, she has.
• 15:14
  Speaker 8: A multi-decades long track record of.
• 15:19
  Speaker 9: Being a biter. So, anyone know what the f * * *
• 15:26
  Speaker 9: this woman's problem is?
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: That is Paige Campbell Grace at Girl Child on TikTok. So,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: you know what, Nima Ramani, you got me over a barrel.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: And the claim that she was having problems with her MS,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: multiple sclerosis meds, is only going to take her so far. So,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: hold on just a moment. I'm being joined right now
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: by Dr. Raymond Gagliardi, general surgeon specializing in surgery, surgery
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: critical care, and more.
• 15:56
  Speaker 6: Dr.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Gagliardi... I'm trying to reconcile everything I'm hearing. Is it possible?
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Let me just start with that. I'm going to pretend
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: I'm preparing you for trial. Dr. Gagliardi, is it possible
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: that her, Selma Blair's behavior is due to being on,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: off her meds, her MS meds? They're really powerful.
• 16:20
  Speaker 10: Nancy, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it, and
• 16:22
  Speaker 10: I really appreciate the question. Some of your guests already
• 16:25
  Speaker 10: have talked about Selma Blair's multiple sclerosis and the impact
• 16:31
  Speaker 10: that this had on these changes that happened to her
• 16:35
  Speaker 10: on the plane. And I think absolutely her disease strongly
• 16:41
  Speaker 10: is impacting her behavioral changes that we saw on the airplane.
• 16:46
  Speaker 10: whether it's due to medication changes or just the primary
• 16:49
  Speaker 10: disease itself, I think it is strongly likely that it
• 16:54
  Speaker 10: is her disease that is affecting her.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Explain to a novice like myself and others, how can
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: her meds, and they're really powerful, how can they, if
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: she's taking them or not taking them, How could that
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: have made this outburst happen? Come on. She kicked people.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: She bit. She's screaming her head off. I think a
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: lot of people don't understand this disease. It's not the
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: same all the time. It changes static. It can be
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: good one day, bad the next day, and then suddenly
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: you're dead. That's how it happens.
• 17:31
  Speaker 10: Absolutely. Well, Nancy, I'm so sorry for folks out there
• 17:37
  Speaker 10: and families that are dealing with this disease. This disease
• 17:41
  Speaker 10: ravages the brain. It ravages the neurologic system. It is
• 17:45
  Speaker 10: a short-circuiting of our brain. It destroys the lining outside
• 17:51
  Speaker 10: of the nerve fibers. And so it is very likely
• 17:55
  Speaker 10: that she may have lesions or areas of her brain
• 17:59
  Speaker 10: that in the front part of her brain that control
• 18:02
  Speaker 10: our emotions. And you already spoke to whether or not
• 18:06
  Speaker 10: her medications may have been affecting her. And the answer
• 18:09
  Speaker 10: is yes. Steroids, for instance, are used to manage this disease.
• 18:14
  Speaker 10: High-dose steroids can cause behavioral changes. And withdrawing from the steroids,
• 18:20
  Speaker 10: or if you suddenly stop taking the steroids, that can
• 18:23
  Speaker 10: also cause behavioral changes like we've seen in Selma Blair.
• 18:30
  Speaker 10: I think the primary medications that she may be on
• 18:33
  Speaker 10: to manage her multiple sclerosis probably aren't affecting her behavioral changes.
• 18:38
  Speaker 10: But if she is on medications for depression, we see
• 18:42
  Speaker 10: depression in MS, that can affect her behavioral changes as well.
• 18:47
  Speaker 10: She may have, one of your guests spoke to a
• 18:51
  Speaker 10: pseudobulbar affect. She obviously has this. She's alluded to it
• 18:55
  Speaker 10: in herself. And so pseudobulbar affect can cause these crying
• 19:01
  Speaker 10: spells or these outbursts. So these are all problems with
• 19:06
  Speaker 10: the primary disease of multiple sclerosis. So I think it's
• 19:09
  Speaker 10: highly likely that her disease is causing these behavioral or
• 19:15
  Speaker 10: cognitive changes.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Dr. Gagliardi, You just said so much. I'm trying to
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: furiously take copious notes regarding what you said. Okay. You
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: mentioned steroids. Steroids make people crazy. I'm not just talking
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: about people that take them in the gym to pump up.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, regular people are given steroids to fight an
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: ailment and they get agitated and angry. If she's on steroids,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: would that have made a change?
• 19:45
  Speaker 10: Yes. And Nancy, you spoke about this. These are not
• 19:48
  Speaker 10: small dose steroids as you said, that somebody like you
• 19:51
  Speaker 10: or I might take for a short term. These are
• 19:54
  Speaker 10: often high dose steroids used to manage this disease. And
• 19:59
  Speaker 10: we know that high dose steroids can cause disease. behavioral changes,
• 20:05
  Speaker 10: whether you're taking the high dose steroids or perhaps you
• 20:08
  Speaker 10: forgot your dose. And so I think that we don't
• 20:11
  Speaker 10: know that she's taking steroids, but we do know that
• 20:14
  Speaker 10: high dose steroids are often used for the management of
• 20:19
  Speaker 10: multiple sclerosis.
• 20:23
  Speaker 8: Dr.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: Gagliardi, and anybody on the panel with a question for
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: our doctor tonight, please jump in because I'm just a
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: trial lawyer. This is way beyond my scope of expertise.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: You mentioned many people with MS, debilitating MS, are on
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: depression meds. Why does MS make so many people depressed?
• 20:44
  Speaker 10: Well, I don't think we know that specific answer. We
• 20:46
  Speaker 10: just know that there's a short-circuiting of the brain, and
• 20:50
  Speaker 10: the areas that control our emotions may be affected by
• 20:54
  Speaker 10: these lesions from multiple sclerosis. And so if she has
• 20:59
  Speaker 10: some active disease.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Doc, again, I'm just a trial lawyer. I don't have
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: all the letters at the end of my name, but
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: I can tell you this much. One reason you get
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: depressed when you have MS is because you can't walk anymore.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: You can't move anymore. You may end up paralyzed from
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: here down. You can't even dial a phone. You can't
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: punch the TV clicker.
• 21:23
  Speaker 10: Nothing.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: You can't feed yourself. It's over. And you watch your
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: children die. being raised, and you can't go to their
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: games or their scout events. It's over.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: You're right.
• 21:36
  Speaker 10: And so these folks often have anxiety or depression and
• 21:40
  Speaker 10: mood disorders, as you mentioned, Nancy, because they are dealing
• 21:44
  Speaker 10: with a horrible, chronic, debilitating disease. And so perhaps she's
• 21:49
  Speaker 10: on medications for anxiety or depression. That can also contribute
• 21:53
  Speaker 10: to some of the changes that she has exhibited in
• 21:56
  Speaker 10: the past, as well as this episode on the airplane.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: And what did you mention, the pseudo-balbo aspect? What is that?
• 22:06
  Speaker 10: One of your guests mentioned this as well, pseudo-balbar affect.
• 22:10
  Speaker 10: And it's just, it is, the brain is being affected
• 22:16
  Speaker 10: in the centers that control our emotions and And so
• 22:20
  Speaker 10: patients who have this often have these crying outbursts for
• 22:23
  Speaker 10: no reason at all. They can't control them. Or they
• 22:26
  Speaker 10: might laugh at something that really isn't even funny. They
• 22:30
  Speaker 10: can't control it. It is an organic problem in the
• 22:33
  Speaker 10: brain that we know is often associated with multiple sclerosis.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: To Nima Rahmani, who I call whenever I have a very,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: very difficult legal issue to try and tear apart and
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: make sense of and analyze. Nima, I hear what you're saying.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: And if I were prosecuting this case, I'd say much
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: the same things you are. Have you noticed, and I
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: don't know if you do this, I remember the first
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: time I read something derogatory about Andy of Mayberry. Well,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: of course I didn't believe it, much less Barney. Have
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: you noticed that we tend to think we know TV
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: and movie stars based on their roles? Sure.
• 23:20
  Speaker 6: No question. And look, Selma Blair isn't dying. She's flying
• 23:24
  Speaker 6: across the country. She's acting. She's going to show up
• 23:26
  Speaker 6: at a 90s convention and take pictures and sign autographs
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: for money. So I'm being sympathetic, but having MS is
• 23:35
  Speaker 6: not a legal excuse.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Why did you say it like that? The woman's got
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: to live.
• 23:53
  Speaker 6: Listen, she's making money good for her.
• 23:55
  Speaker 9: She's a successful actress.
• 23:57
  Speaker 6: Listen, having MS is not a license to assault and
• 24:01
  Speaker 6: hurt people. That's just the bottom line. If she wants
• 24:03
  Speaker 6: to plead guilty and make a mitigation argument at sentencing.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: I agree with that. I totally agree with that.
• 24:08
  Speaker 6: We're always on the same page, but I think you're
• 24:11
  Speaker 6: going soft on this one, Nancy. You really are going soft.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: I'm not going soft, Nima. I'm strategically looking at the
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: possibility that she has a valid defense. Believe it or not,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Nima Romani, I don't want innocent people convicted. I know
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: that's hard for you to believe, but I don't. And
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: speaking of, cut his mic, to Dr. Cheryl Arrett joining us,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: a licensed clinical forensic psychologist. She specializes in trauma recovery.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: You can find her at AskDrCheryl.com.
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: Dr.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Cheryl Arrett, Have you noticed people think they know TV
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: and movie stars? Do I have to say O.J. Simpson?
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: That jury was convinced he was the guy running through
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: the airport in the Hertz ads.
• 25:00
  Speaker 11: Yes, these are parasocial relationships. We think we know somebody.
• 25:06
  Speaker 11: We see somebody being successful, a cool girl role to
• 25:11
  Speaker 11: look at Selma Blair's character. She's been beloved for so
• 25:14
  Speaker 11: many years. And just because she has celebrity, does not
• 25:18
  Speaker 11: mean that she cannot have a medical emergency. And you,
• 25:22
  Speaker 11: having known that somebody that you really loved was fighting
• 25:27
  Speaker 11: MS and dealing with this for decades, you understand that
• 25:32
  Speaker 11: this is something that is debilitating and exhausting. And we
• 25:35
  Speaker 11: can look at what Selma Blair has done in terms
• 25:38
  Speaker 11: of her effort to treat this, to do even really
• 25:43
  Speaker 11: hardcore treatments like, I don't know if you... or your
• 25:47
  Speaker 11: family member ever did a stem cell transplant, but she did.
• 25:51
  Speaker 11: And I actually have a family member who I watched
• 25:54
  Speaker 11: go through that. And that is absolutely like they almost
• 25:58
  Speaker 11: kill you and then try to bring you back. She
• 26:01
  Speaker 11: tried absolutely everything. And if she is managing to get
• 26:05
  Speaker 11: up and work and go places, that speaks to how
• 26:08
  Speaker 11: hard she's fighting to have a life. And I think
• 26:11
  Speaker 11: the physician, Dr. Gigliardi, it really spoke beautifully about how
• 26:16
  Speaker 11: the brain in multiple sclerosis attacks the part of the
• 26:20
  Speaker 11: brain with the lining and the lesions. It attacks the
• 26:26
  Speaker 11: very part of the brain that controls our impulse control.
• 26:30
  Speaker 11: You can have a good day. You can have a
• 26:32
  Speaker 11: bad day. You can completely lose it. And Selma Blair
• 26:36
  Speaker 11: sounds absolutely terrified in this recording. She was completely out
• 26:42
  Speaker 11: of control. And we can all appreciate how very dangerous
• 26:46
  Speaker 11: this could be on a plane and how hard flight
• 26:48
  Speaker 11: attendants have it and how this isn't okay or something
• 26:53
  Speaker 11: that people feel good about. But we do need to
• 26:55
  Speaker 11: understand that celebrities can have medical emergencies as well. And
• 26:59
  Speaker 11: this sure sounds like one to me.
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: No!
• 27:02
  Speaker 9: No!
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: That's Selma Blair, star of Legally Blonde, screaming at the
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: flight gate. Nemo Romani, why are you so convinced those
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: are screams of aggression? and not screams of fear or
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: some other emotion.
• 27:39
  Speaker 6: Well, it sounds like someone who's coherent and knows what's
• 27:42
  Speaker 6: going on to me. Look, if you're talking about defending
• 27:45
  Speaker 6: this case, it's either insanity, which she's not, or that
• 27:49
  Speaker 6: she's involuntarily committing these physical acts. And she is not.
• 27:56
  Speaker 6: This is a high legal standard. Look, again, I'm sympathetic.
• 28:00
  Speaker 6: But she has harmed people. She needs to plead. She
• 28:03
  Speaker 6: needs to accept responsibility. All I hear are excuses on
• 28:07
  Speaker 6: this show for her harming other people. That is not
• 28:11
  Speaker 6: our policy.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Okay, I'm not minimizing what happened to the flight attendants
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: at all. At all. Their injuries, such as they were,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: it's real. They did have to go to the hospital.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: They were out in a couple of hours, but still,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: they don't deserve that. They are innocent in this scenario.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: What I'm doing tonight is trying to understand why. Not
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: that this day ever has to prove motive. But if
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: it's because of a medical reason, I want to know that.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: And when you say she sounds sane, why is she screaming,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: Alexis Tereschuk or Dave Mack? I'll start with you, Alexis.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: Please don't. That's my dolly. What dolly?
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: I think what she might have meant was her dog.
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: She was traveling with her dog. medical assistance dog, a scout.
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: And maybe that was, she was screaming. And when she
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: said Dolly, she meant doggy. She wanted, cause she didn't
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: want to go without him.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Dr. Gagliardi, I'm up against Neema Ramani on this. And
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: I'm in an unknown territory because I'm defending someone. Would
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: altitude have affected her in any way? Because she did
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: have another incident on a plane. I don't think she
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: bit anybody, but there was another incident where she had
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: to be taken away on a gurney.
• 29:24
  Speaker 10: Yeah, that's a very good question, Nancy. There are altitude
• 29:28
  Speaker 10: changes on a plane, even a commercial airline that is
• 29:31
  Speaker 10: a pressurized cabin, but there's lower oxygen levels even at altitude.
• 29:37
  Speaker 10: We don't wear oxygen masks, but there is some differences
• 29:40
  Speaker 10: at altitude versus ground level. And so there are some
• 29:45
  Speaker 10: slight oxygen changes. I don't know whether that was a
• 29:48
  Speaker 10: contributory factor or not. I think that's an excellent question.
• 29:53
  Speaker 10: I'll go back to what I said before earlier. I
• 29:56
  Speaker 10: think it's pretty clear that her changes are due to
• 29:59
  Speaker 10: her disease. And I can respect what the attorney is
• 30:02
  Speaker 10: saying in terms of prosecuting this case.
• 30:05
  Speaker 6: You don't.
• 30:07
  Speaker 10: Have to. But I understand.
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: Mr.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: From Harvard to hashtag West Coast trial lawyers president.
• 30:15
  Speaker 7: Well.
• 30:15
  Speaker 10: Nonetheless, I think it is important, as you said, Nancy,
• 30:18
  Speaker 10: to try to understand what is causing her behavioral changes.
• 30:23
  Speaker 10: She's not really in control of some of these things.
• 30:26
  Speaker 10: I think something else that's interesting that came out of
• 30:28
  Speaker 10: the report is she hit her head on the bulkhead.
• 30:32
  Speaker 10: You mentioned that earlier in the segment. And I wonder
• 30:36
  Speaker 10: if that's contributory as well. And she has a concussion
• 30:40
  Speaker 10: in layman's terms or a head injury, as we say.
• 30:43
  Speaker 10: and whether that is contributory as well. I think that
• 30:46
  Speaker 10: should be explored.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: Is it a medical condition brought on by her fight
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: against MS, the evil multiple sclerosis that has destroyed so
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: many lives, not just of people suffering with MS, but
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: their families as well, debilitating?
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: Or.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Is it just another celebrity meltdown? Do I have to
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: say Mariah Carey? A public and unannounced appearance on MTV's
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Total Request Live. She pushed an ice cream cart, rambled
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: onto Carson Daly, and took off her shirt. Okay, Alec Baldwin. Wow,
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: where do I start? There's the fight in a parking
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: lot with someone. There's telling his 11-year-old daughter, you're a rude,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: thoughtless little pig. There's Will Smith. He slapped somebody on
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: national TV. There's Reese Witherspoon with her infamous Do You
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: Know Who I Am at a traffic stop where she
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: was suspected of DUI. She got arrested on camera. Who
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: would have ever thought America's sweetheart Reese Witherspoon would have
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: a meltdown? Well, Britney Spears. There's just been so many,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: I don't know where to start. Where do I start
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: with Shia LaBeouf? I don't even know where to start
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: with him and all of his outbursts. Justin Bieber, DUI
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: drag racing incident. There's Ariana Grande. Why was she licking donuts?
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: She blurted out, I hate Americans. Hey, you're forgiven after Wicked. Kanye,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: hard to know where to start with him, but there's
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: leaked audio capturing him screaming at production staff and threatening
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: to walk off the show. Oh, can you imagine that?
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: So bottom line, which is it? Nima Rahmani says it's
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: an attack. I'm still standing by Selma Blair tonight. With
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: the help of Dr. Raymond Gagliardi.
• 32:41
  Speaker 8: Dr.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: Gagliardi, what's my takeaway regarding Selma Blair? Give me some
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: ammo to fire back at Rahmani.
• 32:47
  Speaker 10: Well, I think, Nancy, you mentioned a bunch of celebrities
• 32:50
  Speaker 10: who have clearly had outbursts. I think the difference here
• 32:53
  Speaker 10: is that we know Selma Blair has outbursts. a chronic
• 32:57
  Speaker 10: debilitating disease, which is multiple sclerosis, where the body attacks
• 33:02
  Speaker 10: its own nervous system, and we know that this disease
• 33:07
  Speaker 10: causes behavioral, emotional changes. And I can't speak to those
• 33:12
  Speaker 10: other celebrities, but we know from the public record that
• 33:15
  Speaker 10: she has this horrible disease. And it is quite likely
• 33:19
  Speaker 10: that these emotional outbursts, both in the past and the present,
• 33:24
  Speaker 10: are due to her neurologic disease, which is multiple sclerosis.
• 33:28
  Speaker 10: The body attacking its own nervous system, particularly if she
• 33:33
  Speaker 10: has had lesions in the front part of the brain
• 33:36
  Speaker 10: that control our emotions in the frontal lobe.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: To you, Alexis Tereschuk, Crime Stories investigative reporter, what happened
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: in court with Blair?
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: Selma Blair was in court. She was handcuffed because the
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: judge said she had to be so. She was crying
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: as her attorney wiped tears away from her face. She
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: was given a $ 20, 000 cash bond and another $ 60, 000 bond.
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: She has to appear back in court in January of 2027.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: We wait as justice unfolds. And again... not minimizing the
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: injuries to the Delta Flight attendants who get all sorts
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: of credit from me. But I want to know why.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: We remember an American hero, Trooper Andrew Fox, Virginia State Police,
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: just 27, killed in the line of duty, leaving behind
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: his wife, Jenny, now a widow. American hero, Trooper Andrew Fox.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: Thank you to all of our guests being with us tonight,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: but especially to you. Nancy Gray signing off for tonight.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: But I'll see you tomorrow night. And until then, good night, friend.