John Hinckley Jr., the Oklahoma native who tried to assassinate President Ronald Regan in 1981 in an attempt to impress Jodie Foster, shared a new message for “The Silence of the Lambs” star during a recent appearance on the “Mark Joseph Show” (via EW).
“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.”
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On March 30, 1981, Hinckley waited outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., for President Regan. When President Regan emerged from the building, among a crowd of onlookers, he fired all six shots of his Röhm revolver at the commander in chief. Several of the accompanying staff and Secret Service agents were injured, and one of the bullets ricocheted off of President Reagan’s limousine and struck him in the chest. Labor official Alfred Antenucci brought Hinckley to the ground seconds after the shooting, with assistance from agent Dennis McCarthy.
Hinckley was tried in federal court, but was found not guilty on all 13 charges by reason of insanity.
Hinckley had stalked Foster while she was at Yale years before the assassination attempt, which was to be his final act to win her over. He was 25 at the time, while Foster was 18, and already had dozens of credits to her name, including “Taxi Driver” and “Freaky Friday.”
When asked by host Mark Joseph what he hoped to achieve by assassinating Regan, Hinckley said, “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. But I was believing those things at the time, so the best outcome would have been a union with Jodie Foster.”
“I thought she would, you know, after things settled down, join me wherever I was,” Hinckley added. “I wasn’t sure if I was gonna be in jail or the hospital or what after things settled down. I had this notion that she was gonna join me wherever I was.”
