Sept. 11:A Playboy model was detained after claims that she tried to open a plane door mid flight after she suffered an anxiety attack.

Tiffany Livingston, 21, reportedly suffered the attack as she was aboard the JetBlue Flight 522 from Orlando to Newark when passengers claim she tried to open the door at 10,000 feet.

She was detained when the plane landed but was released hours later. Federal investigators who interviewed her after the flight concluded that she was not trying to open the door, instead she was trying to stabilise herself following the panic attack which was caused by turbulence.

A source close to Livingston told the New York Post: “She said she’s gone through this before, but never this bad, and didn’t have ... her medication”.

Kathleen Longsderff, agency director at Livingston’s former modelling agency told CBS News: “[She] has dealt with minor anxiety issues in the past, however has always maintained a high level of professionalism in the modelling business.”

Alison Crole, a spokesman for JetBlue said they would “co-operate fully with local authorities”.

Last year, Livingston, a 5-foot-6 brunette from Merrimac, Rhode Island, was featured as the centerfold for the debut edition of VIP, the Singapore version of Playboy, in which she was described as “not just another pretty face”.

“Tiffany boasts the immaculate poise of a mature model wrapped with a bubbly demeanour,” the profile said. Her agent did not return a call seeking comment.

The incident comes only weeks after Steven Slater, a JetBlue air steward was arrested after deploying the emergency chute of a plane after being insulted by a passenger.

Slater, 39, reportedly launched a foul-mouthed tirade on the plane’s PA system, before grabbing a beer, leaping down the chute and fleeing across the runway at JFK Airport in New York.