Tara Reid Claims She Chose To Leave Delta Flight, Slams TMZ For 'Bad Journalism'

Tara Reid said her removal from a Delta aircraft Monday was her own choice, in a new statement posted on her Instagram page. The actor claimed her three-month-old dog is a registered support animal and the airline wouldn't allow it to sit on her lap. Instead, Reid claimed the airline asked her to stow her dog in the overhead compartment.

"The flight attendant wanted me to put my dog in its carry on and in the overhead bin, which was an absurd request considering animals cannot breathe in there, let alone an incident such as this one which took place some time ago and that puppy, unfortunately, died in that very similar overhead bin, therefore I refused to comply with this ridiculous request," Reid wrote.

Reid's statement referenced an incident in March when a puppy died in an overhead bin during a United Airlines flight, according to The Washington Post.

The statement also claimed the flight attendant then asked to put the dog in the "belly of the plane." "I gracefully declined and deboarded the plane on my own accord without and incident and as you can see in the video no disturbance took place. Within minutes I was back on another plane with a different (dog-friendly) airline which accepted that I carry my dog on the plane with me on my lap heading to my destination."

Along with her explanation on the incident, Reid called out TMZ for their coverage of an angle she denies. The gossip site claimed Reid caused a disturbance by complaining about her seat and other uncomfortable aspects of the flight and was asked to leave.

"I don't appreciate the false reporting from TMZ adding to false claims about what truly went on. Furthermore, TMZ was NOT on the plane. The mere fact that they simply took someone else's word for it is bad journalism at its core," she said. "Finally, I'd also like to deny the last statement stating they had reached out to my rep for comment."

TMZ claimed they spoke with Reid about the encounter directly. "Tara now says we got our reporting wrong, but the fact is ... we spoke directly to her Monday and she told us she was upset about not getting a window seat and feeling cramped in her seat because the person in front of her reclined theirs," the site reported in response to Reid's Instagram statement.

Included with the original TMZ story was a video, which seemed to show Reid being escorted from the plane by a flight attendant. Delta Airlines commented on the incident to People. They claimed the flight "returned to the gate, prior to takeoff, due to a customer disturbance on board."