Actress Selma Blair said this week that she hopes to move to Israel and rebury her mother’s ashes there, while describing professional and personal losses she attributed to her public comments following the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack. She spoke at the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly in Washington, DC.
Blair, 54, whose credits include “Legally Blonde,” “The Sweetest Thing” and the “Hellboy” films, appeared in conversation with Julie Platt, a former chair of the Jewish Federations’ Board of Trustees. Blair said she had lost her agent, manager, publicist, social media team and most of her entertainment industry friends because of her comments. “I was erased in Hollywood, totally, completely,” she told the audience.
The actress described antisemitic and anti-Israel responses on social media after the attack and said she had contacted Jewish college students facing hostility and accusations. Her own posts included a claim that Islam had destroyed Muslim countries and that people coming from those countries were destroying minds elsewhere. She also advocated deporting supporters of terrorism. Blair said her remarks had been misconstrued. After accusations of Islamophobia, she apologized for conflating Muslims with extremist Islamists and fundamentalists.
Blair said the fallout had affected both her and her son. Tearful as she described the atmosphere in Hollywood, she said her son frequently hears people say “Allahu akbar” to him and expressed a wish for greater support from people in his daily life. She acknowledged that her distress since October 7 could not compare with that of people who experienced the attack. She also briefly discussed “Hineni,” meaning “Here I Am,” a documentary she is developing about antisemitism and attitudes toward Israel.
Platt also alluded to Blair’s detention in New York in October following a Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles, during which she reportedly behaved violently toward crew members. Blair pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree assault and was released on bail. Her representatives attributed the incident to a medical episode. In an October 30 video apology, Blair said she had never intended to hurt or frighten anyone. At the gathering, she expressed gratitude for being welcomed and said she hoped eventually to explain her perspective.
Much of the conversation concerned Blair’s Jewish education. She converted to Judaism in second grade, taking the Hebrew name Batsheva, and attended Hillel, a Jewish day school in Detroit, for eight years. She recalled learning to read and write Hebrew before English and praised the school’s close community. Blair said she wished her son attended a Jewish day school.
Some of Blair’s teachers were Holocaust survivors, and she credited them with helping her develop resilience. She said members of her father’s family were killed in the Holocaust and described Jewish prayer as a continuing source of comfort. “In the worst moments of my life, I am saying the Shema over and over,” she said.
Returning to her hopes for Israel, Blair said her mother had wanted to retire there and recalled it as the only place where she had been happy as a child. She identified herself as a Zionist and said her father’s family had been among the country’s early founders before moving to the United States. Blair closed by expressing pride in being Jewish and a hope that members of the community would support one another.
