Jodie Foster obsession led to Reagan assassination attempt; Hinckley sends message 45 years later

More than four decades after attempting to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, John Hinckley Jr. has again publicly addressed his obsession with actress Jodie Foster. In a recent interview on "The Mark Joseph Show" podcast, Hinckley, now 71, spoke with apparent serenity about Foster, who is 63.

Hinckley stated, "I don't usually watch her movies, but I wish her the best and I know she's doing quite well," adding, "And that's all I can say: I just wish Jodie the best and hope she has a good life."

Foster, who was 12 when she played a prostitute in the 1976 film "Taxi Driver," a role that reportedly fueled Hinckley's delusional obsession, had largely avoided public comment on the episode for decades. The assassination attempt on March 30, 1981, left Reagan wounded and injured three other men, including White House press secretary James Brady, who suffered permanent disabilities and died in 2014 from the attack's lingering effects.

Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent years in a psychiatric hospital. He was released from psychiatric care in 2016 and fully freed from all judicial restrictions in 2022, marking a starkly different context for his current public statements.

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I don't usually watch her movies, but I wish her the best and I know she's doing quite well. And that's all I can say: I just wish Jodie the best and hope she has a good life.