Entertainment

Ross: Search Was Intrusive

September 22, 1999 / 8:50 AM EDT / AP

A weary-looking Diana Ross said she was Â"treated like a criminalÂ" by airport officials in London after they detained her for more than four hours following an altercation with a security guard.

The Motown diva arrived at Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday night, hours after leaving Heathrow Airport. She will not face charges for the incident, which happened after she was frisked by a female security guard.

Â"I travel a lot. The security checks usually use metal detectors,Â" said Ross, 55. Â"This woman went all around my body and up and down my legs. I felt very uncomfortable. I wanted to complain, but no one listened to me.Â"

The problems started shortly before Ross was to board the morning flight to New York. She passed through the metal detector and something she was wearing apparently activated it. She was then given a body search by the guard.

Ross tried to protest to security staff at Heathrow Airport immediately after the search, but was given a leaflet about complaint procedures, said Phil Symes, her publicist.

Outraged, Â"she then went back and approached the girl again and said, `How would you feel in this situation?' and actually touched the girl,Â" Symes said.

The guard complained to police, accusing Ross of assault.

Â"I reacted because I was upset,Â" Ross said.

She boarded the Concorde, but was led off in tears. She was detained for hours, then released after being cautioned by police. She was escorted through waiting reporters and photographers into a limousine, flanked by five London police officers.

"I'm absolutely furious. Do you know when they search you, they actually touch your breast? It's disgraceful," she said.

She told reporters she felt like a prisoner. Â"I sat in the police station like a criminal for five hours. I was frightened. I was scared.Â"

She returned to Heathrow in time for a 7 p.m. flight to New York eight hours after she was scheduled to leave.

Â"I have been through all the airports of the world and never been subjected to such an intrusive search,Â" Ross said earlier in the day. Â"I am a huggy person, I don't mind being touched, but not in this way -- it was far too personal.Â"