Natasha Lyonne said she took a sleeping pill before flight, was detained by ICE

2 days ago 2

In January, Natasha Lyonne announced that she’d relapsed after two decades of sobriety. In late March, she broke her silence on the topic to reassure fans that she was doing much better but would be keeping her journey private for the time being. Last Tuesday, Natasha walked her first red carpet since January for the Euphoria season three premiere. It was held in Los Angeles. Natasha was scheduled to appear on the Drew Barrymore Show on Wednesday, so she had a red-eye flight back to New York City. What should have been an uneventful trip in first class ended up going sideways. After appearing to be out of it and refusing to answer flight attendants’ routine requests to fasten her seatbelt and stow her laptop, Natasha ended up getting kicked off the plane.

On Thursday, Natasha responded by posting that she had been looking forward to talking to Drew and that her heart went out to the unpaid TSA officers. She made it back to New York on a different flight in time to go to the NYC premiere of Lorne. On Friday, Natasha released a more detailed statement about the incident. She wrote that she’d taken a sleeping pill after boarding so she could sleep through the flight and then go straight to the show. Natasha also wrote that she was detained by ICE. Here’s what she tweeted:

Thanks for the great reporting, @enews. Indeed, I took a Lunesta once seated, to ensure some shut eye on the Delta One red eye flight to NYC. Boarded seamlessly with just a backpack and sneakers, eager for a nap. Plan was to be bushy tailed & beauty rested, as I was meant to head straight to glam for a slot with our beloved @DrewBarrymore, upon landing. Was looking forward to seeing Drew & an in depth convo, but I guess ICE had other plans & I was detained instead. Sign of the times, I guess. Thanks for all the love and support. Never had a problem with @Delta or @TSA before. Heart is with our unpaid @TSA workers. Apologies to any travelers who were delayed.

[From Twitter]

The ICE claims are shocking because, to my recollection, we don’t have any accusations of ICE removing potentially inebriated passengers *that look like Natasha* from flights. There are also no solid reports of ICE being at LAX. Mr. Rosie had to fly in and out of there for work last month. He has TSA PreCheck but still arrived four hours early as a precaution. He was shocked at how it was one of the most orderly, chill experiences he’s ever had flying out of there.

I don’t really know what to make of the sleeping pill explanation. I have no experience with Lunesta, but on occasion, have taken Trazodone or Tylenol/Advil PM (not at the same time). Both have taken at least 45 minutes to make me sleepy and neither has made me so loopy that I didn’t know where I was. First class gets to board first so it’s feasible that Natasha took it as soon as she sat down, waited as the flight boarded and that it affected her in that time. There’s no video yet of Natasha on the plane, but we’ve seen the red carpet video of her at the Euphoria premiere. I feel like a broken record saying it at this point, but I really like Natasha and am rooting for her. I hope she’s getting the help she needs. She’s such a bright light in this crazy world.