Selma Blair Says She Once Used Alcohol to Dull MS Pain, in Interview Taped Before Her Arrest

Selma Blair said in a newly released podcast interview that she used alcohol for years to cope with the headaches, anxiety and nerve pain of multiple sclerosis, and that she no longer drinks. The episode of “The Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg Show” was published Tuesday, Oct. 20. The Los Angeles Times reported that it was recorded before Blair was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Oct. 11.

“I was even a very young age using it for the headaches, using it to calm down, using it very young,” Blair said. “And then I realized it was the one thing that took away my nerve pain.”

Blair, 54, said she never drank in public with friends and used alcohol mainly to sleep. “When you’re depressed, that is never going to be a good solution,” she said. She described her current approach this way: “I don’t live like a sober sober lifestyle, but drinking, no, I cannot do. I’m still a human being but I recognize that alcohol is not good medicine for me.”

In the interview, Blair also said she no longer has active MS, and described being diagnosed with pseudobulbar affect, a neurological condition that causes sudden episodes of laughing or crying, the Times reported. She went public with her MS diagnosis in 2018.

The interview landed as Blair’s criminal case remains pending. She has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of second-degree assault in Queens. Prosecutors say she kicked a Port Authority police officer and a nurse after Delta Flight 938 from Los Angeles landed at JFK. Her lawyer has said the conduct was not intentional and that she had missed several doses of a medication that controls severe neurological symptoms. Her next court date in the state case is Jan. 19, 2027. A separate federal violation notice for assault aboard the aircraft is set for the petty-violations court in Brooklyn, and no appearance date has been reported.

On Friday, Oct. 23, Blair was photographed walking in Studio City with her 15-year-old son, Arthur, and her service dog, Scout, who was with her on the flight. She was carrying a green juice, according to the Daily Mail, which published the photos.

Groubert, who covered the case at length on Oct. 14, closed Wednesday’s show with both developments. He read the Daily Mail’s account of the outing and suggested Blair was not taking the case seriously. “This is the most publicity Selma Blair has gotten in 15 years,” he said.

He had little patience for the podcast. Groubert called Blair’s account of drinking to manage her symptoms rambling and dismissed it with an expletive. He said she appeared to be in denial about the legal jeopardy she faces. “I would find it incredibly bizarre if she avoids prison time for these assaults,” he said. He also predicted that the people she is accused of injuring would testify against her and that the case would be tried in New York rather than Los Angeles. “These people are going to testify against her,” he said.

Several of Groubert’s statements go beyond the record. He said Blair was “going to federal prison” and would face a “federal judge.” The felony counts are state charges in Queens, and the federal matter is a petty-offense violation notice. He described the Oct. 11 incident as the second time she had bitten people on a plane. Reports of her 2016 removal from a flight from Cancun do not describe anyone being bitten. At the time, Blair said she had mixed alcohol with medication and blacked out.

Groubert speculated that Blair was intoxicated on the flight and that MS patients have easy access to a range of prescription drugs. He cited nothing to support either claim. No law enforcement account has said Blair was under the influence, and her lawyer has attributed the episode to missed medication. Groubert repeated the report that Blair tried to open the cockpit door. Her representative has denied she tried to open any aircraft door, and Delta said it could not corroborate the report.

Production has wrapped on “Dead at 27,” an independent thriller in which she stars, Deadline reported.