Jaime Pressly was escorted out of a downtown San Jose hotel today after witnesses described a chaotic scene that included loud phone calls, profanity, and an encounter with a stranger at a wedding, ultimately leading the actress to skip her scheduled GalaxyCon appearance. The Emmy-winning star of NBC's My Name Is Earl had been staying at the Signia by Hilton San Jose ahead of the pop-culture convention just steps away.
According to TMZ, witnesses say Pressly talked loudly on her phone, used profanity, and at one point held up a finger to security guards while continuing her call. Two security guards approached her, but she initially ignored them and headed to the hotel bar, where she reportedly had another drink. Witnesses allege Pressly appeared under the influence at the hotel, and at least one guest complained about her behavior, per the outlet's report.
The outlet reports that Pressly then stepped outside to smoke and, at some point, was seen holding hands with a valet employee before approaching a woman attending a wedding at the venue. Witnesses say she touched the wedding guest's arm, and one witness told TMZ that a security guard asked Pressly to leave because she had put her hands on another guest. Hotel security ultimately escorted her away, with one guard telling her plainly, “We're done.”
A Phone Call Turns Personal
Pressly reportedly sat in the hotel lobby for about 30 minutes afterward, continuing to complain about the security guards. During that stretch, witnesses say she was overheard saying, “You are the best husband I have ever divorced and you are good to our kids,” followed by, “Mommy loves you.” Sources familiar with the situation told TMZ that family matters contributed to her unusual behavior that day.
Pressly was previously married to entertainment lawyer Simran Singh from September 2009 until filing for divorce in early 2011, and she is a mother to three sons, including a teenage son with ex-fiancé Eric Calvo and twin boys born in 2017 with partner Hamzi Hijazi, according to RadarOnline. She eventually left the hotel on her own, a source told the outlet, and returned roughly 10 minutes later.
Convention Appearance Scrapped
Pressly had been in town ahead of a scheduled appearance at GalaxyCon San Jose, which ran Friday through Sunday at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. She ultimately canceled that appearance. The Signia by Hilton sits about 0.3 miles, or a two-minute walk, from the convention center, making it a natural lodging choice for celebrity guests attending the three-day pop-culture festival, per Wikipedia.
Multi-day fan conventions like GalaxyCon process thousands of ticketed visitors per weekend, and organizers must reconfigure complex panel and photo-session schedules when a guest cancels, according to Eventeny. Hoodline previously covered how GalaxyCon events can pack downtown areas with celebrity guests, drawing large crowds tied to individual appearance tickets.
The Hotel's High Profile in Downtown San Jose
The Signia by Hilton San Jose, located at 170 South Market Street, is the largest hotel in downtown San Jose and a primary hospitality anchor for regional convention traffic and civic gatherings. The property was originally built in 1987 as the 805-room Fairmont San Jose, went through bankruptcy during the COVID-19 pandemic, and reopened in April 2022 as Northern California's first Signia by Hilton, a transition Hoodline reported on in the hotel's 2022 rebrand.
Under California innkeeper standards and lodging regulations, hotel management has explicit legal authority to refuse service or remove guests who are intoxicated and behaving disorderly in a way that disturbs other guests. Separately, California Penal Code Section 602 defines remaining on private commercial property after being formally told to leave by management or security as misdemeanor trespass, though there is no indication in TMZ's report that police were called or that any citation was issued.
Past Legal History
This is not Pressly's first brush with alcohol-related controversy. In January 2011, she was arrested in Santa Monica on suspicion of driving under the influence with a reported blood-alcohol concentration above 0.20%, later pleading no contest and receiving three years of informal probation that August, according to the Los Angeles Times. Pressly won a Primetime Emmy Award in 2007 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Joy Turner on My Name Is Earl and later starred as Jill Kendall on CBS's Mom from 2014 to 2021.
Pressly's representative did not respond to TMZ's request for comment. It remains unclear whether San Jose Police were dispatched to the hotel, how GalaxyCon handled refunds for fans who had purchased passes tied to Pressly's canceled sessions, or whether her team plans to issue a public statement addressing the incident.
