An 18-year-old Jodie Foster, back in the ’80s was dealing with some seriously unwanted attention. Not to mention the annoying phone calls from a persistent stalker who went on to prove his undying love by attempting a murder. Some men have never picked up a Jane Austen book in their life and it shows.
Now, when you think of Jodie Foster, there’s a lot more to her than these crazy headlines. Sure, she’s nailed roles like the tough survivor in ‘The Accused,’ snagging her first Oscar. And who could forget her as the FBI trainee in ‘The Silence of the Lambs,’ winning her a second golden statue? To stretch this list even longer we have—‘Panic Room’, ‘Freaky Friday’, ‘Bugsy Malone’—she’s done it all! The impressive part about all her masterpieces? She could easily let the crazy life get to her head and draw out the victim angle because she rightfully was, but she didn’t. Jodie Foster refused to let some mentally deranged, obsessive dude write her name with blood drawn by his hand.
Jodie Foster’s Infamous Assasin Stalker
So the story starts with Jodie Foster and Robert De Niro’s iconic ‘Taxi Driver’. As all the fans know, our 12-year-old Jodie played the character of a teen sex worker named Iris. The plot loosely involves Iris and her lover Travis Bickle. In the entire movie our boy Bickle strives to assassinate the presidential candidate but miserably fails. What then? He shoots lower, killing Iris’s pimp and everyone cheers. Martin Scorsese’s creation with a cast as bright as Foster and Di Nero soon became the talk of the Tinseltown.
Jodie’s got this magic touch when it comes to playing complex characters. Audiences couldn’t get enough of her art to make it all seem so authentic because, in actuality, it was not. Jodie wasn’t a propped-up, powdered, and street-smart lady, as she herself confessed to the Vanity Fair. Yet some anti-social elements forgot the 101 of the profession of acting, that it’s all an act.
And as fame does its thing, there came the dark side of celebrity life—the whole phenomenon of people getting way too obsessed with Hollywood stars. In this mix was the star of our story John Hinckley Jr. He had just seen the ‘Taxi Driver’ and got a little too fixated on our girl Jodie. Now, John wasn’t just a casual fan. No, he took it to a whole new level, projecting his fantasies onto Jodie’s on-screen persona like he’s writing his own movie script. Dressing up like Travis Bickle from the movie? Check. Blurring the lines between reality and fiction? Double check.
John Hinckley’s Letters And Longing
Who doesn’t fancy a love letter? C’mon, we’re all women of the 21st century wishing there was a guy who’d write us letters with his quill and vintage paper. But that’s when we know who the guy is and if he’s safe. No one wants to see a stranger man’s name in their mail and Jodie had about a thousand of them. She was just living her life, totally clueless about some guy named John Hinckley until he started hand-delivering creepy letters to her doorstep. Classic stalker move. Foster was a college student at this point, trying to live a life as normal as possible so she just ignored the heck out of those letters. Little did she know, ignoring him only made things worse.
Next thing you know, this guy’s calling her up, and she’s all, “Who is this?” on the other end of the line, totally caught off guard. Turns out, it’s Mr. Obsessed himself, leaving poems and messages galore, all about his undying love for her. He used to think, “I’d rather just see her not on earth than being with other guys.” Creepy doesn’t even begin to cover it.
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Assassination Attempt Of President Reagan
Fast forward to THE day— March ’81. Hinckley took his obsession to a whole new level. He wrote Jodie one final letter, which was later found in his hotel room, outlining his plan to impress her by…wait for it…attempting to assassinate the president! Yeah, he thought that would win her heart. Talk about a seriously messed-up movie script playing out in real life, there was a reason Travis Bickle didn’t succeed at killing the president.
He wrote, “Jodie, I would abandon this idea of getting Reagan in a second if I could only win your heart and live out the rest of my life with you, whether it be in total obscurity or whatever. I will admit to you that the reason I’m going ahead with this attempt now is because I just cannot wait any longer to impress you. I’ve got to do something now to make you understand in no uncertain terms that I am doing all of this for your sake.”
Thankfully, Hinckley’s terrible aim spared President Reagan’s life that day, but the chaos and fear he caused were no joke.
While all this was taking place Jodie was taking lectures in college. The news did make it to the campus and as terrifying as it was, nothing compared to what Foster felt when she made it back to her dorm and learned the name of the assassin– “John”, said her roommate.
Jodie Foster On The Celebrity Obsession
In her own words in the 1982 piece ‘Why Me’ published at Esquire, Jodie cut through the delusion around celebrity obsession like a seasoned pro. She pointed out how fans can think they “know” a star just by watching them on screen. They create this illusion of familiarity that can quickly spiral into obsession. Hinckley fell into that trap, convinced he had some kind of connection with Jodie just because he watched her movies.
After the failed assassination of 81, Jodie went through a whirlwind of press conferences, legal meetings, and constant scrutiny. Reporters swarmed her campus and made it impossible for her to protect herself from getting trampled. Throughout it all, Jodie kept her cool. She refused to play into the tabloid frenzy, simply stating she wanted to “resume my normal life.” And that’s exactly what she did. Even at Hinckley’s trial, when he yelled “I’ll get you Foster!” the 20-year-old Jodie stood her ground and spoke her truth.
John was ruled not guilty by the court and was sent straight to the psych ward. He was released in 2016 under the conditions keeping him far away from Foster.
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