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John Hinckley Jr., the man who shot former President Ronald Reagan in 1981 to impress Jodie Foster, said he wants nothing but good things for the actress.
“I just wish Jodie Foster well,” he 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.”
The 71-year-old explained on the “Mark Joesph Show” in an exclusive preview shared with Entertainment Weekly that when he shot Reagan 45 years ago in a delusional state, he believed he would spend the rest of his life with the “Silence of the Lambs” actress.
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The full episode will air on Wednesday.
“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,” Hinckley told Joseph after the host asked what he believed at the time would be the best thing that could come out of the shooting.
He explained that he honestly believed at the time 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.”
It came out shortly after Hinckley’s assassination attempt that left Reagan with a broken rib, punctured lung and internal bleeding, that he was obsessed with Foster after seeing her in “Taxi Driver,” and thought the shooting would make her notice him.
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Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity after shooting the former president outside the Washington Hilton two months after he was elected.
Former White House Press Secretary James Brady was shot in the head and suffered brain damage and partial paralysis, which helped lead to his death in 2014. His death was ruled a homicide.
Two other men were also wounded in the shooting.
Hinckley was committed to a psychiatric hospital after the trial and released in 2016. By 2022, he was living in Virginia without any court restrictions.
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Hinckley admitted to Joseph, however, that in his delusional state, Foster could have been a target herself.
“She definitely could have been a target, it’s just fate went the other way,” Hinckley said. “But, yeah, she could have been a target. But as fate turned out, it was Reagan instead of her.”
In a 2022 interview with CBS, 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,” he said at the time. “I’m sorry to Jodie Foster for bringing her into this.”
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