John Hinckley Jr. Sends Jodie Foster a Message 45 Years Later
John Hinckley Jr., the man who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981 in a bid to win Jodie Foster's attention, is offering the actress a message of goodwill more than four decades later.
Hinckley, now 71, addressed Foster during a recent appearance on The Mark Joseph Show, according to a preview shared with Entertainment Weekly. "I just wish Jodie Foster well, you know," Hinckley said. "I don't really see her movies, but I wish her well, and I know she's doing quite well. And that's all I can say is just, I wish Jodie well, and I hope she has a good life."
The Shooting and Its Origins
Hinckley shot Reagan outside a Washington, D.C., hotel on March 30, 1981, after the then-president had delivered a speech. The attack also wounded press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and police officer Thomas Delahanty. Hinckley was 25 at the time.
According to Hinckley, the shooting was the culmination of an obsession with Foster that began after he saw her performance in the 1976 film Taxi Driver, in which she played a child character alongside Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle, a character who also carries out an assassination attempt on a presidential candidate in the film. Foster, then 18 and already an established young actress, was attending Yale University at the time, and Hinckley had stalked her there in the months leading up to the shooting, sending her letters and repeatedly calling her.
Hinckley explained his mindset at the time during the interview. "I wanted to have a union with Jodie Foster and live the rest of my life with her and all these things that, of course, were delusional," he said. He went on to describe believing that Foster would eventually join him regardless of the outcome. "I wasn't sure if I was gonna be in jail or the hospital or what. But after things settled down, I had this notion that she was gonna join me wherever I was," he said.
Decades in Psychiatric Care
Hinckley was tried in federal court and found not guilty on all 13 charges by reason of insanity, having been diagnosed with major depression and a psychotic disorder. He spent 35 years in psychiatric treatment, primarily at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C., before being granted increasing periods of release starting in 2016 and receiving full, unconditional release from court oversight in June 2022.
At the time of his 2022 release, Hinckley publicly apologized to those affected by the shooting. "I apologize to the American people for what I did in 1981," he said at the time, and additionally offered apologies to Reagan's family, the other victims and Foster specifically. In the years since gaining his freedom, Hinckley has pursued a career as a singer-songwriter.
Representatives for Foster have not publicly responded to Hinckley's latest remarks.
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