John Hinckley Jr., known for the 1981 shooting of former President Ronald Reagan, expressed his well wishes for actress Jodie Foster. Hinckley stated, “I just wish Jodie Foster well. 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 wish Jodie well, and I hope she has a good life.”
Appearing on “The Mark Joseph Show” in an exclusive preview provided to Entertainment Weekly, Hinckley discussed the delusional state he was in when he attempted to assassinate Reagan, believing it would initiate a lasting relationship with Foster, then renowned for her role in “Silence of the Lambs.”
“I wanted to have like this 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 that time. So, the best outcome would have been to just have like this union with Jodie Foster,” expressed Hinckley.
Hinckley explained his belief that Foster would “join me wherever I was. You know, I didn’t know if I was going to be in jail or hospital or what, but after things settled down, I had this notion that she was going to join me wherever I was.”
Following the assassination attempt, Reagan suffered a broken rib, punctured lung, and internal bleeding. It was revealed that Hinckley was obsessed with Foster after seeing her in “Taxi Driver” and believed the shooting would attract her attention.
Press secretary James Brady was shot in the head, causing brain damage and partial paralysis, ultimately leading to his death in 2014, which was classified as a homicide. Two other individuals were wounded in the incident.
Hinckley was declared not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1982 trial and confined to a psychiatric hospital. He was released in 2016 and began living in Virginia without court restrictions by 2022.
In his conversation with Joseph, Hinckley acknowledged that Foster could have been a target herself. “She definitely could have been a target. It’s just fate went the other way,” he admitted.
In a 2022 CBS interview, Hinckley apologized for his actions. “I shot four people, and I’m sorry to the Reagan family, the Brady family, the other families of the victims,” Hinckley said. “I’m sorry to Jodie Foster for bringing her into this.”