Ad

Latest Posts

Holly Carpenter and James Kavanagh reveal they were ARRESTED during trip to Paris

Holly Carpenter and James Kavanagh have revealed they were arrested during a trip to Paris in January 2020.

Speaking on Holly’s brand new podcast Filter Free, which launched today, the influencers shared what really went down when they visited the French capital.

Before going into the story, James confessed: “I kind of held back on telling this story because I felt like we did something wrong… but we actually hadn’t!”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Holly Carpenter (@hollycarpenter)

“For a long time I was ashamed of it,” he said, before Holly interjected, “I was borderline traumatised.”

James then explained that him and Holly planned an impromptu trip to Paris with their influencer pal Rob Kenny and another friend at the very start of 2020.

James and Holly were going to meet Rob there, and the pair had a few drinks before they got to the airport.

After polishing off three bottles of prosecco, James confessed they got “quite lit” during the plane journey.

James Kavanagh and Holly Carpenter | Andres Poveda

Once they landed, they made their way to passport control – where James realised he didn’t have his passport.

Panicking, James ran back to the plane to look for his passport, and the TV presenter confessed he was being “a bit too loud”.

James had no luck finding his passport and came back, where he and Holly continued to rifle through his suitcase.

James recalled: “Next of all I look up and there’s riot police men with guns pointed at me and Holly, and I was like ‘sorry?'”

The pair suddenly found themselves in handcuffs, but weren’t told why they were being arrested.

“So we were handcuffed and brought into this room, and at this stage I was still a bit giddy and I don’t know if I thought it was real, because it was just so ridiculous, we hadn’t done anything to warrant an arrest,” James explained.

“We were handcuffed in public, in front of everyone, everyone was like gasping.”

“At the time there was huge riots going on in France so I don’t know if they were just on high alert and thought we were more dangerous than we were.”

The Currabinny founder joked: “We were just two lit girls from Dublin. My crime is that I like to have fun!”

James continued: “So we were brought into this room, now the worst thing about this was no one told us why we were arrested, they were laughing at us.”

Holly confessed she was “bawling” at that stage, and the pair sobered up quite quickly.

James recalled: “I was pleading with them like ‘can you tell us why we’re in here?’ And they kept saying ‘non, be quiet’.

“It was honestly like we were being kidnapped, they weren’t even wearing policed uniforms either it was like riot gear.”

Holly Carpenter at The Gossies 2022 | Brian McEvoy

The pair then explained that Holly was taken into a separate room and strip searched, and they both had their blood tested.

After what seemed like forever, Holly and James thought they were being released when they were “frogmarched with guns through the airport”.

However, the pair were given a rude awakening when they were put in the back of a car and brought to jail.

James said they were put in cells side by side, and the policemen were “laughing” at how upset they were.

The influencer pals also claimed the officers googled Holly’s name, and threatened to take a picture of her and post it on Twitter.

Holly said: “I actually thought everyone at home, like my family and friends, had a picture of me in a cell.”

“They didn’t give us water either, and there was people screaming, it was really horrible and cold,” James said.

15 hours or so later, the pair were released and they finally got to go and see Paris, but Holly and James admitted they were “shook” over the incident.

James, Rob and Holly in Paris
Holly on their infamous trip to Paris

The former Miss Ireland said: “I was so shook, and I felt kind of violated as well. They upended my suitcase, they laughed in my face, they made me give them my bra. They were so shady.”

James also revealed he had 200 euro stolen from his wallet while they were in custody.

After they were released, the pair tried to enjoy their trip and posted stunning photos from Paris on Instagram – but their followers had no idea what they had just been through.

The social media stars said their Paris trip was the perfect example of Instagram vs Reality, as you never know what’s really going on behind someone’s Instagram feed.

You can listen to the full podcast episode below:

Ad

Latest Posts

Don't Miss