’80s Pop Star Arrested for Alleged Drunken Behavior on Plane

Pop star Sam Fox was arrested on a flight from London, England to Munich, Germany this weekend. According to a report by The Sun, the plane was ready for takeoff but it needed to turn around when 56-year-old Fox got into a dispute with another passenger. Fox issued a public apology, and she will not be allowed to fly until March.

Fox was a major pop star in the U.K. in the 1980s. She rose to prominence as a glamor model but cemented her place in pop culture with her solo dance-pop albums, and has worked as a TV presenter as well. She was arrested on a British Airlines flight last week when got into a “drunken bust-up” with another passenger. Sources told The Sun that Fox was taken into custody and spent the night in jail, while the airline paid for hotel rooms for the rest of the passengers. The flight was delayed until the next day.

Fox said she is “deeply sorry for any disruption caused” in this incident. So far, many details of this story have not been confirmed, and there has been no official statement from British Airlines, Heathrow or law enforcement. The Sun has a history with Fox since she rose to fame as a model in “Page 3” – a section of the newspaper that published topless photos of glamor models from the 1970s through 2015.

Fox is a London native and daughter of actress Carole Ann Wilken. She studied acting but signed a record deal at the age of 15, and began modeling at age 16. The Guardian described Fox as one of the most-photographed British women of the 1980s, on par with Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher at the time. Fox herself said that she was just glad to stumble into the career, noting that many people from her neighborhood had “rough, low-paying jobs.”

Fox continued pursuing music and launched a career as a pop singer as well. She released six studio albums between 1986 and 2005. However, her career hit a serious snag in 1991 when Fox accused her father of embezzling money from her as her manager. She successfully sued her father but she broke even after covering all the taxes he had evaded over the years. Fox’s record sales declined after the 1980s, but in 2022 she announced that she was working on a new studio album and in 2023 she toured the U.S.

Fox was back in the headlines in 2017 when she released her tell-all memoir Forever. In it, she accused her father of violently assaulting her in 1991. She wrote that the attack left her with two broken ribs, among other injuries. She also wrote about her relationships – including Kiss member Paul Stanley – and how she was outed as a lesbian in 2003.

Fox’s book is available now in print and digital formats. So far it’s not clear if she will be charged for the incident at Heathrow last week.