Cassandra Jean Amell and Stephen Amell attend ‘Heels’ premiere in Los Angeles on August 10, 2021. Rob Latour/Shutterstock
Facing his shame. Stephen Amell opened up about being removed from an airplane after arguing with his wife, Cassandra Jean Amell.
“I had too many drinks in a public place, and I got on a plane,” the 40-year-old actor explained on the “Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum” podcast on Tuesday, August 31. “I was pissed off about something else that had nothing to do with Cass, my wife, and I picked a fight. Just I picked a fight because I wanted to be loud and upset.”
Stephen was escorted off a plane from Austin to Los Angeles on June 22, after making an appearance at the ATX Television Festival. He offered an explanation via Twitter the next day.
“My wife and I got into an argument Monday afternoon on a Delta flight from Austin to LA. I was asked to lower my voice and I did. Approximately 10 minutes later I was asked to leave the flight,” he wrote at the time. “And I did so immediately. I was not forcibly removed.”
Aside from the tweet, the Heels star hadn’t spoken out about the headline-making incident. He brought up the incident himself at the top of Michael Rosenbaum‘s podcast to finally share his side of the story in more detail and take responsibility for his actions.
He said that his wife, 35, didn’t engage with him during the fight. “My wife said one thing the entire time,” Stephen recalled. “‘If you don’t lower your voice, they’re going to ask you to get off the plane.’”
He clarified that his tweet saying it was “an argument” was misleading and wrongfully placed blame on Cassandra, with whom he shares daughter Maverick, 7.
“I referred to it as an argument between my wife and I. It was not an argument,” the Toronto native admitted. “This is 100 percent my fault. I feel like I went the better part of 10 years without being an a–hole in public. I was an a–hole in public.”
He added, “[Cassandra] was frankly even more pissed when I said ‘argument’ as opposed to ‘pick a fight.’”
Stephen Amel and Cassandra Jean. Lionel Cironneau/AP/Shutterstock
The actor can’t remember what he was upset about, but he recalls drinking too much and acknowledged that it clearly wasn’t an important issue. He also revealed that he was wearing noise cancelling headphones, so he wasn’t entirely aware of how loud he was — though he added that he didn’t want to make excuses, “because this is 100% my fault.”
As the Roswell, New Mexico star predicted, someone from the airline approached the Teen Choice Award winner shortly after that to tell him to calm down. The Arrow star, who is “deeply ashamed” of the incident, said that he was quiet for the following 10 minutes, but the decision had already been made to remove him from the airplane.
The Nocking Point Wines cofounder recalled having to get in touch with his friends and family to explain what happened afterward. He also realized that the situation easily could’ve been worse if he weren’t cooperative.
“If I just casually, flippantly — not being in sound mind and body — if I offer, like, a quick, passive, ‘f–k off,’ and all the sudden I’m in bracelets? I mean, maybe I destroyed my entire life, my entire career,” the father worried. “So, I think, ultimately, [I’m] very ashamed of it, trying to make amends for it, specifically with my wife.”
Cassandra and Stephen have been married since 2012. The Code 8 star said they’re working on their marriage in the aftermath of the embarrassing incident.
“It’s a work in progress. It’s not the best,” the actor admitted. “You can work through things but that doesn’t mean they didn’t happen.”
Before they switched to talk about his Starz drama, Heels, the former superhero star reminded listeners: “If I meandered at all through this explanation, remember the key points are: totally my fault, f–ked up, not an argument, a fight.”
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