John Hinckley Jr., who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981 in an effort to impress actor Jodie Foster, said in a recent podcast interview that he no longer follows her films but hopes she “has a good life.”
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
More than four decades after shooting President Ronald Reagan outside a Washington hotel, John Hinckley Jr. is publicly discussing Jodie Foster, the actor whose attention he said he hoped to gain through the 1981 assassination attempt.
Hinckley, now 71, addressed Foster during an appearance on “The Mark Joseph Show” podcast, a preview of which was published Wednesday by Entertainment Weekly.
“I just wish Jodie Foster well, you know. 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,” Hinckley said, according to NBC News.
Hinckley’s comments revisit the motivation he gave for one of the most notorious attacks on a U.S. president in modern history.
On March 30, 1981, Hinckley opened fire as Reagan was leaving the Hilton Hotel in Washington. Reagan survived the shooting, but several others were also struck.
White House Press Secretary James Brady was left paralyzed as a result of the attack. Brady died in 2014.
Hinckley said at the time that he believed shooting Reagan would impress Foster, who was 18 years old when the assassination attempt occurred.
Foster had already become widely known for her performance as a child prostitute in director Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film “Taxi Driver.” She later became an Academy Award-winning actor.
Hinckley was prosecuted for the attack but was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
He subsequently spent decades confined to a psychiatric hospital before being released in 2016 under a series of court-imposed conditions.
Hinckley was permitted to live with his elderly mother in Williamsburg, Virginia, while remaining subject to requirements that included therapy and restrictions on his travel.
Those conditions gradually eased.
In 2022, a judge ended the remaining court supervision, granting Hinckley full freedom from judicial oversight decades after the Reagan shooting.
His latest remarks suggest that Foster, once the focus of the obsession Hinckley cited as motivation for the attack, no longer occupies the same place in his life.
Hinckley said he does not regularly watch her work and offered no further reflections on her career beyond expressing goodwill toward her.
“And that’s all I can say is just, I wish Jodie well, and I hope she has a good life,” he said.
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