In the 1970s, Jodie Foster became a huge deal at only 12 years old when she starred in the blockbuster Taxi Driver, but her stardom led to something that would alter her life forever.
In 1975, Jodie Foster was on the cusp of becoming a teenager when she played a child sex worker in Martin Scorses’ Taxi Driver. Although this launched her career and saw her get roles in other films like Silence of the Lambs, it also led to her being stalked by a man named John Hinckley Jr who was obsessed with the Hollywood actress.
Hinckley begins to stalk Jodie
He called her, left letters at her home, and tried any way he could to contact her, even though the now 60-year-old told him to leave her alone.
He began imitating Robert De Niro’s character from the movie, Travis Bickle, who saves Jodie’s character Iris after a failed assassination of a presidential candidate. Hinkley wore army clothes and boots and kept a diary, just like Robert De Niro‘s character does in the film.
“Jodie is the only thing that matters now. Anything I might do in 1981 would be solely for Jodie Foster’s sake,” he said in a recording on New Year’s Day, 1981. “I think I’d rather just see her not on earth than being with other guys.”
When all else failed to get Jodie’s affection, he decided to take his imitation one step further by attempting to assassinate the president at the time, Ronald Reagan.
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A final letter
In the March, Hinckley wrote to the celebrity for the final time. In his letter, he said he “loved her very much” and stressed what he was doing was all for her.
He wrote: “I will admit to you that the reason I’m going ahead with this attempt now is because I cannot wait any longer to impress you. I’ve got to do something now to make you understand, in no uncertain terms, that I’m doing all of this for your sake! By sacrificing my freedom and possibly my life, I hope to change your mind about me.”
Hinckley’s attempt was unsuccessful, though he did shoot four people, including Reagan who was shot under his arm yet didn’t realize that he had been hit with everything going on around him. He was minutes from death when he reached the hospital.
At the trial, Hinckley screamed, “I’ll get you Foster!” after she relayed to the court that she had no relationship with him. He was found not guilty on 13 counts by reason of insanity and was institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital. He was released in 2016 under the condition that he not contact Jodie in any way.
What has Jodie Foster said about the ordeal?
In a 1982 article she wrote for Esquire headlined Why Me? Jodie spoke about it for the first time. She had previously only told reporters she planned to “resume my normal life.”
Jodie penned: “A man can buy a poster, pin it on his locker, and imagine the most minute details about a slinky starlet,” she wrote. “He’ll know her through and through. He’ll possess her external reality. So of course Hinkley ‘knew’ me. That woman on the screen was digging in her bag of tricks and representing herself for everyone to assess, to get to know, to take home.”
Later, in a 1999 60 Minutes episode, she said she didn’t like to “dwell” on what had happened.
Jodie said: “I don’t like to dwell on it too much. I never wanted to be the actress who was remembered for that event. Because it didn’t have anything to do with me. I was kind of a hapless bystander.
“But… what a scarring, strange moment in history for me, to be 17 years old, 18 years old, and to be caught up in a drama like that.”
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