John Hinckley Jr. Admits He Doesn’t Watch Jodie Foster’s Movies After Shooting Reagan to Impress Her

John Hinckley Jr. confessed he hasn’t kept up with Jodie Foster’s work in the near five decades since he attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan to impress her.

The controversial figure shared how he currently feels about the two-time Oscar winner during a rare interview for the “Mark Joseph Show.” Specifically, in a sneak peek of the episode shared by Entertainment Weekly Tuesday, Hinckley told host Mark Joseph that he “just wish[es] Jodie Foster well.”

“I don’t really see her movies, but I wish her well,” he continued. “And I know she’s doing quite well. And that’s all I can say is just, I wish Jodie well, and I hope she has a good life.”

Hinckley shot Reagan outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. on March 30, 1981, not long after the president addressed 5,000 members of the AFL-CIO. At the time, Reagan was struck by a bullet that had bounced off his limousine, striking him under the arm. Three others were wounded in the incident, including Press Secretary James Brady, police officer Thomas Delahanty and Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy.

The 25-year-old Hinckley later pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, claiming he went through with the attack in an attempt to impress the then 18-year-old Foster. The latter was already a household name at the time, given her high-profile role opposite Robert De Niro in 1976’s “Taxi Driver,” which had a plot point where a politician is nearly assassinated.

He eventually was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1982, spending more than 30 years in a psychiatric facility. Though, Hinckley made headlines when he was given an initial conditional release in 2016 – and again in 2022 when he was granted complete freedom from court oversight.

While reflecting on the incident that made him an infamous figure, Hinckley told Joseph he had pursued “delusional” thoughts.

“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 recalled. “But I was believing those things at the time, so the best outcome would have been a union with Jodie Foster.”

“I thought she would, you know, after things settled down, join me wherever I was,” he added. “I wasn’t sure if I was gonna be in jail or the hospital or what after things settled down. I had this notion that she was gonna join me wherever I was.”

Per Hinckley, his mental state was so deluded that he very easily could’ve targeted Foster herself, adding, “She definitely could have been a target. It’s just, fate went the other way … As fate turns out, it was Reagan instead of her.”