John Hinckley Jr. Breaks Silence on Jodie Foster Decades After Reagan Shooting

John Hinckley Jr., who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981 in an attempt to impress actress Jodie Foster, has sent a message to the Oscar winner in a rare interview.

“I just wish Jodie Foster well,” Hinckley said on The Mark Joseph Show. “I hope she has a good life.”

Hinckley, then 25, wounded Reagan and three others outside a Washington, D.C., hotel on March 30, 1981. He later said he carried out the attack because he believed it would win Foster’s affection after becoming obsessed with her role in Taxi Driver.

Found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1982, Hinckley spent more than three decades in a psychiatric facility before being fully released in 2022.

Reflecting on his motives, Hinckley said he had been convinced that Foster would eventually join him, whether he ended up in prison or a hospital. He described his hopes of marrying her as “delusional,” but said he genuinely believed them at the time.

Foster has previously spoken about the lasting trauma of the incident, including letters from Hinckley and an unrelated man bringing a gun to a play she was performing in at Yale shortly after the shooting.