Artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel got into a heated exchange with girlfriend Rula Jebreal in front of horrified MSNBC staff yesterday at 30 Rock, where they were promoting their movie, “Miral.”
Oscar-nominated Schnabel flew into a rage and was heard shouting at Palestinian journalist Jebreal that he didn’t like how the stylists for “Morning Joe” had curled her hair. Multiple sources said that in full view of show staffers, he pulled her hair before they continued to scream at each other moments before going on air.
One source told Page Six, “They were already arguing when they arrived at 30 Rock. They continued to argue while waiting at the visitors’ center, then in the green room and then in the makeup room.
“When they were about to go on air, he seemed really angry about how her hair looked. He thought they had curled it too much. At one point he tossed her hair back and pulled it.” He shouted, “You look like Farrah Fawcett,” according to the source.
“He kept flicking her hair and saying, ‘You look like all the other girls.’ His behavior left a lot of people very disturbed and brought one person to tears. She kept asking him to calm down, but then they went off into the corridor yelling loudly at each other.”
A second source said, “He was belligerent and refused to take his winter coat off. As they were preparing to go on air, he was grabbing her hair. She kept pleading, ‘Please Julian, not now.’ ” A third source said the fight started before they arrived at the studio because, “Rula was upset about a story that had been written about her family.”
Amazingly, they gave a calm interview to Willie Geist about the film, based on Jebreal’s autobiographical novel and directed by Schnabel. But our second source added, “They started fighting again as they left 30 Rock and were still arguing outside.”
Schnabel and Jebreal met in 2007 when he was still married to his second wife. A rep for the couple said they “deny any physical altercation.” They said in a statement, “We had an argument in a public setting as couples sometimes do. We sincerely apologize if we made anyone feel uncomfortable.”