John Hinckley Jr. has shared a new message for Jodie Foster 45 years after his assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. He sat down for a rare interview on The Mark Joseph Show podcast, where he got candid about the incident.
Entertainment Weekly‘s exclusive preview of the interview, which will air Wednesday, August 12, shows Hinckley Jr. discussing his 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan. The 71-year-old also addressed Jodie Foster, the actress he sought to impress by attempting to assassinate Reagan.
“I just wish Jodie Foster well,” Hinckley Jr. 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: I just, I wish Jodie well, and I hope she has a good life.”
Reflecting on his actions, Hinckley Jr. 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.” He added, “But I was believing those things at the time. So the best outcome would have been a union with Jodie Foster… in this life.”
How did Jodie Foster become linked to one of America’s most infamous crimes?
John Hinckley Jr. became obsessed with Jodie Foster after seeing her in Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film Taxi Driver, in which the actress played a 12-year-old sex worker. The infatuation escalated to the point where he attempted to assassinate the newly elected president Ronald Reagan to impress her.
On March 30, 1981, Hinckley shot President Reagan, wounding him and three others: Washington, D.C., police officer Thomas Delahanty, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy and White House Press Secretary James Brady.
Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a psychiatric hospital. He was granted an unconditional release from court supervision in 2022 after being discharged from psychiatric care in 2016. In a June 2022 interview with CBS, Hinckley apologized to the Reagan and Brady families and to Jodie Foster.
Originally reported by Namrata Ghosh on ComingSoon.net.
