Stalked stars
A look at some of the celebrities who have had chilling encounters with obsessed fans
In 2000, Dante Soiu was tried for stalking Paltrow. She testified that he had been sending her up to five letters a day, along with packages of flowers, pizzas, sex toys and pornography. He also traveled twice from his Ohio to her mother, Blythe Danner's home in L.A. He was declared not guilty by reason of insanity and was committed to a California psychiatric hospital, where he spent five years.
In 2015, Soiu was arrested again for stalking Paltrow, and in in 2016, stood trial in L.A. He was acquitted.
George and Amal Clooney
In July 2016 Clooney and his wife were granted a five-year order of protection from Mark Bibbee, a stalker who reportedly sent them 189 pages of "rambling disturbing and delusional" documents, including a plot to kill former President George H. W. Bush and references to the murder of JonBenet Ramsey.
Jennifer Garner
Stalked since 2002 by Steven Richard Burky, who believes he was the victim of satanic ritual abuse as a child. He was given a restraining order protecting Garner in 2008, and in December 2009, was arrested outside her daughter’s nursery school and charged with felony stalking and violating the restraining order. In 2010, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was sent to a psychiatric hospital in California.
Ashanti
Devar Hurd has been tried four times for stalking the Long Island born Grammy winner. Hurd sent X-rated photos of himself to Ashanti’s mom meant for Ashanti saying they were “gifts for the ladies.” At his 2016 trial, Hurd represented himself, saying Ashanti could have stopped his messages if she were truly scared of him and said they had “strong eye contact” at a concert of hers in 2003. He was found guilty of stalking for the third time in March 2016.
Salma Hayek
In September 2015, a judge ordered two women to stay away from Salma Hayek and not attempt to contact the Oscar-nominated actress for the next three years. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carol Boas Goodson granted Hayek’s request for a restraining order against Liana Philippon and Odette Bodagh, who the actress stated in court filings impersonated her and made a veiled threat to kidnap her daughter.
Keanu Reeves
On Sept. 12, 2014, Keanu Reeves called 911 after finding an intruder in his library. On Sept. 24, his staff discovered another female intruder -- naked -- in his swimming pool.
Rihanna
Has been plagued by multiple stalkers, including Kevin McGlynn, a homeless man who hand-delivered letters to the Barbadian singing sensation’s NYC home and sent letters to her california home. Police caught McGlynn when they found his benefits card, which had his name and address on it, in Rihanna’s building. A judge compared McGlynn to Mark David Chapman, the man that shot John Lennon, describing the situation as “a tragedy waiting to happen.” McGlynn was committed to a psychiatric hospital in 2013.
Sandra Bullock
On June 18, 2014, Sandra Bullock called 911 after encountering 39-year-old Josh Corbett in her bedroom hallway.
At the time of his arrest, Corbett was unarmed but allegedly carrying a handwritten letter where he wrote, "I'll be around as you know. I love you." It was signed, "Your husband, Joshua James Corbett." After police conducted a search of his home, they uncovered an arsenal of weapons and charged him with 19 additional felonies.
In May 2017, Corbett pleaded no contest to one felony count each of stalking and first-degree residential burglary and sentenced to five years probation.
This is not Bullock's first encounter with a stalker. In August 2010, the star filed a restraining order against a mentally ill man who had stalked her off and on for nearly a decade.
Ivanka Trump
In February 2012, Justin Massler, a self-described celebrity stalker, admitted to harassing Ivanka Trump by barraging her and her husband with bizarre tweets, emails and online videos. Massler, who for months had been deemed psychologically unfit for trial, pleaded guilty to aggravated harassment and criminal contempt charges. He was sentenced to six months jail time that he had already served, plus five years of probation, with continued psychiatric treatment and medication.
Alyson Hannigan
In February 2012, Alyson Hannigan was granted a temporary restraining order after alleging that 43-year-old New Hampshire resident John Hobbs had sent her online messages threatening to kill her and her family.
Sheryl Crow
On Oct. 6, 2003, Ambrose Kappos approached Crow after a concert in New York. It was the only time she met him, but she claimed in court that he had been stalking her and her family since 2002, making phone calls to her sister and showing up at her father’s office. Kappos told police upon his arrest that he and Crow were spiritual twins and were destined to marry. He was acquitted of all charges in November 2004.
In August 2012, Crow made headlines again after she got a restraining order against a man who acknowledged he threatened to shoot the singer-songwriter and film executive Harvey Weinstein. Philip Gordon Sparks, 45, agreed to stay away from the Grammy winner and Weinstein after an hour-long hearing in which he accused the pair of stealing $7.5 million from him, videotaping and following him without permission and leaving him homeless.
Mila Kunis
On May 17, 2012, prosecutors charged a 27-year-old man with stalking the Mila Kunis and violating a restraining order that was issued after he broke into a vacant condo owned by the actress. Stuart Lynn Dunn has been arrested twice for trying to contact and meet the “That `70s Show” and “Black Swan” star. He was arrested in May 2012 outside her gym.
Madonna
In February 2012, Robert Dewey Hoskins was captured one week after escaping a Los Angeles mental hospital. Hoskins, 54, served a 10-year prison sentence for stalking and threatening Madonna after being convicted by a jury in 1996.
Alec Baldwin
In November 2013, a Canadian actress was convicted of stalking Baldwin and sentenced to six months in jail. Genevieve Sabourin was found guilty of stalking, attempted aggravated harassment, harassment and attempted contempt of court, saying she had no right to pursue contact she knew to be unwanted.
At her trial, Baldwin testified that the actress had turned his life into a horror film after they met once for dinner. He said she besieged him with unwanted phone calls and emails and started showing up at his homes and at public events.
Selena Gomez
In 2014, Che Cruz, 20, was charged with felony stalking and violating a court order to stay away from the singer-actress.
Previously, Gomez was granted a three-year restraining order against a 46-year-old man accused of threatening to kill the starlet and of traveling from Illinois to try to meet her. Gomez wrote in a declaration filed in Oct. 2011 that she was in extreme fear after learning that the man, Thomas Brodnicki, had threatened to kill her while he was on a psychiatric hold.
Audrina Patridge
“The Hills” star Audrina Patridge was granted a three-year restraining order against an alleged stalker on Sept. 30, 2009. Patridge testified in a Los Angeles court that Zachary Loring had shown up at her house several times, bringing her poems and drawings, and that she was “afraid” of him. Loring was arrested outside her home on Aug. 30.
Shawn Johnson
On March 25, 2009, a man named Robert O’Ryan was arrested for trying to break into the studio where the show “Dancing with the Stars” is filmed in order to meet the contestant and Olympic gymnast. Loaded guns, duct tape and love letters were found in his car that day, police said.
Paula Abdul
On Nov. 11, 2008, 30-year-old Paula Goodspeed was found dead outside Paula Abdul’s home, an apparent suicide from what police say was a drug overdose. Abdul said Goodspeed, who auditioned for, but was rejected from, season five of “American Idol,” had been following her for three years, sending her more than 100 letters and phone calls.
Conan O'Brien
In November 2007, a Boston priest was arrested and charged with stalking the late-night talk show host. Rev. David Ajemian allegedly sent O’Brien threatening notes, using his parish’s stationary, to O’Brien’s home and office over a period of 14 months. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.
Uma Thurman
On Oct. 5, 2007, Jack Jordan was arrested outside the actress’ home. He had sent emails to Thurman’s father and spoke to her mother in order to try to contact the actress, and also slipped letters under her door when she was away on vacation. He was convicted of aggravated harassment and stalking and was sentenced to three years probation and to undergo psychiatric treatment.
Hilary Duff
Maksim Miakovsky, 18, was arrested on Nov. 3, 2006, on charges of making criminal threats and stalking Duff. According to legal documents, Miakovsky said that he came to the U.S. from Russia in order to meet and become romantically involved with the actress. He was sentenced to 117 days in jail and five years probation.
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Dawnette Knight was sentenced to three years in state prison in July 2005 for writing threatening letters to the actress. In one letter, Knight wrote that she would “slice [Zeta-Jones] up like meat on a bone and feed her to the dogs.” At the sentencing, Zeta-Jones called her stalker “evil” and said “your actions will be with me for the rest of my life.”
Pamela Anderson
In 2005, Pamela Anderson requested and was granted a three-year restraining order against a British man named William Peter Stansfield. Anderson claimed that Stansfield approached her then-7-year-old son at school and told her that she should work on a film script that he wrote for her. In court documents, the actress said the incidents “frightened her tremendously.”
Anna Kournikova
A homeless man named William Lepeska was arrested on Jan. 30, 2005, in Miami Beach, Fla., after he allegedly swam nude across the Biscayne Bay in an attempt to find the tennis star’s home. Lepeska has the name “Anna” tattooed on his arm and allegedly sent many alarming emails and letters to Kournikova. He was ordered to stay 1,000 feet away from her.
Britney Spears
In April 2004, Daniel Lachance was arrested on two counts of criminal trespassing and stalking. Police say he twice entered the property of Spears’ father’s home in Kentwood, La., while searching for the singer in her hometown. That June, Lachance pleaded no contest to two counts of stalking, was given a 6-month suspended sentence and ordered by a judge to return to his home country of Canada.
Halle Berry
Berry filed and was granted a restraining order in 2004 against Greg Boussard, a then-35-year-old Louisiana resident who claimed he was a former Navy SEAL. In the documents, Berry alleged that Boussard believed that the two were engaged and that her publicist and manager were preventing them from being together. The documents also stated that Boussard said that God told him to marry her.
Mel Gibson
In 2004, Zach Sinclair confronted Gibson in a Malibu, Calif., church, telling him that God wanted them to pray together. A restraining order was filed, but Sinclair violated it less than 24 hours later. Gibson testified in court that Sinclair was not “overtly threatening,” but he was concerned for his family’s safety. He was found guilty of stalking in 2005 and given a maximum 3-year jail sentence.
Jennifer Love Hewitt
On Sept. 29, 2003, 47-year-old Diana Napolis pleaded guilty to stalking the “Ghost Whisperer” star. She allegedly believed that Hewitt could read her mind and planned to harm her. Hewitt was first approached by Napolis outside a San Diego radio station and then continued trying to contact the actress in Los Angeles and via email. Napolis was put on probation and ordered to stay away for at least 10 years.
Richard Gere
Ursula Reichert-Habbishaw, a divorced mother of four from Germany, began stalking the actor in 2001. She allegedly called or faxed Gere as many as 1,000 times and appeared at his New York office six times in a 14-month period. She pleaded guilty to aggravated harassment in May 2002, but was allowed to avoid jail time by returning to Germany.
Rebecca Schaeffer
On July 18, 1989, Schaeffer, who starred on the CBS sitcom “My Sister Sam,” was murdered in her home by a fan who had been stalking her for three years. Robert John Brando had sent letters to Schaeffer and was turned away from the sitcom’s set before finding her home address through the DMV. He was sentenced to life in prison. After her death, California laws changed to prevent the DMV from releasing private addresses.
Jerry Lewis
Gary Benson, a diagnosed schizophrenic, stalked the legendary comedian for years, beginning in 1989. He spent six years behind bars for stalking, and upon release immediately sent Lewis another letter threatening his life. While in jail and awaiting trail once again, Benson died of heart disease in 2001.
David Letterman
Margaret Mary Ray, who suffered from schizophrenia, first made national news in 1988, when she was arrested driving Letterman’s Porsche. She claimed that she was Letterman’s wife and that her 3-year-old son was their child. Over the next several years, she was arrested another eight times on trespassing and other counts. She served 10 months in prison for harassing the late-night host, and later committed suicide in 1998.
Jodie Foster
On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley, Jr., tried to assassinate then-President Ronald Reagan in order to impress Foster. Prior to the assassination attempt he attempted to contact her by sending letters on multiple occasions when she was a student at Yale University. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was treated in a psychiatric institution until Sept.10, 2016, when was he was released to live full-time at his mother’s home in Williamsburg, Va.
John Lennon
On Dec. 8, 1980, Mark David Chapman shot and killed the former Beatle outside his home in New York, as Lennon and wife Yoko Ono were returning from a recording session. Earlier that evening, Lennon had autographed an album for him. Chapman was charged with second degree murder and found guilty, and is currently serving a sentence of 20 years to life. His multiple applications for parole have all been denied.