Forty years ago, John Hinckley Jr attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan in a twisted bid to win the heart of actress Jodie Foster. It is a testament to Foster's resilience that the event did not define her career or public persona.
The Beginning of an Obsession
In 1975, at age 12, Foster played teenage sex worker Iris in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver. The film, which features Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate, became an unwitting catalyst for Hinckley's obsession. After watching the movie, Hinckley—estranged from family, hooked on Valium, and expelled from a neo-Nazi group—saw himself in Bickle and Foster's character as his salvation. He began dressing like Bickle and keeping a diary, fixating on Foster.
Foster's Life at Yale
Foster, meanwhile, enrolled at Yale in 1980, seeking normalcy. She adopted a "screw-the-world dress code" and participated in college activities, unaware that Hinckley had followed her to Connecticut. He began leaving letters and poems at her doorstep, which she ignored. When he called, she asked, "Who is this?" Eventually, she handed his letters to the dean.
The Assassination Attempt
On March 30, 1981, Hinckley wrote Foster a final letter outlining his plan to kill President Reagan, stating he would abandon the idea if she loved him. He left the letter in his hotel room and waited outside the Washington Hilton. As Reagan emerged, Hinckley fired six times, hitting Press Secretary James Brady, police officer Thomas Delahanty, and Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy. A ricochet struck Reagan under the arm; he arrived at the hospital minutes from death.
Foster learned of the shooting later that evening when her roommate said "John." Her normalcy was shattered.
Aftermath and Reflection
In a 1982 Esquire piece, Foster reflected on celebrity delusion: "A man can buy a poster... possess her external reality. So of course Hinkley 'knew' me." She faced intense media scrutiny and a copycat stalker. At trial, Hinckley yelled, "I'll get you Foster!" when she denied a relationship. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and confined to a psychiatric hospital until 2016.
Foster continued her career, winning Oscars for The Accused and The Silence of the Lambs, and remaining fiercely private. In her 2013 Cecil B. DeMille Award speech, she said, "If you had been a public figure from the time that you were a toddler... you too might value privacy above all else." She concluded, "Love is blissful. Obsession is pitiful."
