Dolores O’Riordan has insisted she wasn’t drunk during her air rage attack – but was scared by fellow passengers.
The Cranberries star was arrested after stamping on the foot of an Air Lingus attendant and hospitalising her, before allegedly assaulting and spitting in the face of a Garda.
The ex-Voice coach said there were “bad people having too much booze roaring at me” and that she stood on Carmel Coyne’s foot “by accident… like a child in the playground”.
Stressed: Dolores insists she didn’t mean to hurt flight attendant | VIPIRELAND.COM
“It was very stressful. I am not used to being in a crowd like that. What happened was, people were scaring me,” she added.
“I was going into the corner and saying, ‘Please don’t touch me’. They said to me, ‘Do you think you are someone?’ I said: ‘You know who I am. You know I am the singer in the Cranberries’.”
The 43-year-old said she wore a superhero mask onto the flight from New York to Shannon after being followed by “stalkers” in the Big Apple.
And told she needed to get help, Dolores said: “Don’t worry. I’m grand. This is my life. I’ll live it my way”.
Voice: Dolores was coach on last season of RTE show | RTE
Dolores said she only had two glasses of wine on the plane, as well as a glass of port with her meal before a planned sleep.
She added: “That was the plan. I couldn’t sit down because they were roaring at me and shouting at me, these people. I don’t really care what people think.”
Now Dolores says she doesn’t remember much about being arrested by cops, who are currently deciding whether to prosecute – but did sing in her cell.
“Apparently my mother came into the cell. I don’t remember. I had created a tortoise effect. I tucked myself in, under the blanket,” she told the Sunday Independent.
Split: Dolores has ended things with husband Don after 20 years | VIPIRELAND.COM
“I was singing in the cell. I was praying. I was meditating because I was freezing. I was black and blue. Look at me!”
And Dolores, who says she wants to apologise to the flight attendant, added that she feels “21 again” after spitting from Don Burton, her husband of 20 years.
“It’s black and white. You only have one life. You can’t be in a situation where you are not happy. It’s as simple as that. I have nothing bad to say about the man,” she said.
“We had a good 21 years. Ultimately it got to the point where it was not good any more. Time to move on. I feel 21 again. I feel like this is my second life.”
