John Hinckley Jr. has sent a new message to Jodie Foster, the actress he sought to impress when he shot then-President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Hinckley, now 71, expressed his well wishes for the 63-year-old actress during a virtual appearance on The Mark Joseph Show podcast.
"I just wish Jodie Foster well," Hinckley said in a preview shared by Entertainment Weekly. "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."
Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the assassination attempt and spent over two decades in a mental hospital. He was granted unconditional release from all remaining restrictive conditions in June 2022, after a U.S. District Court Judge determined he had progressed significantly.
In the podcast interview, Hinckley reflected on his past motivations, stating, "I wanted to have a union with Jodie Foster and live the rest of my life with her and all these things that, of course, were delusional." He explained his belief at the time that Foster might join him after the legal proceedings concluded, regardless of whether he was in jail or a hospital.
"She definitely could have been a target. It’s just, fate went the other way," Hinckley told the podcast host when asked if Foster could have been a potential target of his violence. "As fate turns out, it was Reagan instead of her."
The shooting occurred on March 30, 1981, outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. Hinckley, then 25, fired a .22 caliber rifle, striking Reagan in the torso. The bullet ricocheted off the presidential limousine, causing serious internal bleeding and puncturing a lung. The attempt also paralyzed Press Secretary James Brady, who died in 2014, and wounded a police officer and a Secret Service agent.
Hinckley's obsession with Foster reportedly stemmed from her role in the 1976 film "Taxi Driver." He had written letters to the actress prior to the shooting.
In June 2024, Foster spoke about the lasting impact of the event, telling Interview magazine, "I’m finally able to admit that the one bit of theater I did when I was in college, there was so much trauma involved in it."
She added, "The play happened in two weekends, and I did the first weekend, and in between the first weekend and the second weekend, John Hinckley shot the president… He shot him in order to impress me, and he had written letters to me, so it was a big moment in my life."