An actress, who once starred opposite rap icon Eminem, admitted she got into a tussle with her personal assistant — but doesn’t believe she committed any crime, the starlet’s lawyer said today.
Taryn Manning, 33, was arrested earlier this week for allegedly attacking her assistant in her room at the Dream Downtown Hotel on West 16th Street, authorities said.
Manning, who played a bit part as Eminem’s dysfunctional girlfriend in the 2002 movie “8 Mile,” was charged with assault following the 5 a.m. incident yesterday. She was released on her own recognizance from a Manhattan courtroom this morning.
“If you know anything about Taryn and her background and her track record, she’s not a petulant little kid,” said Manning’s defense lawyer Joseph Tacopina.
“She is a 33-year-old, serious well accomplished actress who is here promoting her song on VH-1.”
Tacopina conceded that Manning and her assistant got into a tussle but insisted it was short of an assault. The assistant doesn’t want Manning prosecuted, according to Tacopina.
“Her assistant is also her longtime friend. They had a late night argument and it turned into a little bit of a physical altercation,” he said.
“It was really nothing more than that. Unfortunately it got out of hand … the complaining witness has made clear she does not want to pursue these charges.”
A temporary order of protection was issued today, barring any contact between Manning and the victim.
“It was a little misunderstanding between the two, they are longtime friends, not just an employer employee relationship,” Tacopina added. “She is part of the Manning family she stays with the mother and Taryn in California so this will be resolved.”
Authorities painted a more violent picture of the confrontation, and accused Manning of punching and kicking her 23-year-old female assistant.
“She [the assistant] is on a plane right now to California,” Tacopina said.
“She reached out to me to express that she didn’t want to proceed with this.”
Manning is due back in a Manhattan courtroom on Nov. 13. The actress is just happy to be out of custody.
“She has had a long night obviously, it’s a little different being down in the belly of 100 Centre St.,” Tacopina said.
The lawyer said manning and her assistant were hashing out “personal issues” in their throw down but declined to elaborate.
“There are some personal issues that they’ve had, I’m not going to get into them,” said Tacopina, adding that alcohol “perhaps” fueled the fight.
Manning also starred with Terrence Howard in the 2005 hit flick “Hustle and Flow.”
In recent years she’s had guest spots on the television shows “Sons of Anarchy” and “Hawaii Five-0.” This summer, she released a music album.
The hotel last made headlines when trouble-plagued starlet Lindsay Lohan allegedly hit a pedestrian outside a parking garage there on Sept. 19.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona, Laura Italiano and David K. Li