Stalking is an act in which an individual exhibits obsessive attention to or a fixation on others that arises to the level of harassment or intimidation. It is an especially intrusive form of privacy invasion and can be a criminal offense.
Stalkers often engage in behavior in which they repeatedly follow, watch or harass another person. Stalking can also include calling, mailing or sending gifts that by themselves are innocuous, but rise to the level of harassment if done frequently enough. Celebrities have been prone to this type of harassment because of their high-profile image, wealth, familiarity, exceptional looks and perceived elite status.
It is often said that fame comes with a price. In 2000, Gwyneth Paltrow was the victim of stalking by a pizza deliveryman who was reported to have sent the actress thousands of e-mails, pornographic letters and packages, candy and pizza. At his trial, Paltrow testified of her frequent nightmares and fear of rape. The man was declared legally insane and sent to a psychiatric facility.
John Hinckley is known as the man who fired six shots at President Ronald Reagan in 1981, wounding him and his press secretary, James Brady. Hinckley had attempted to assassinate Reagan in a psychotic effort to impress actress Jodie Foster. Hinckley was obsessed with Foster and had even moved to New Haven, Conn., where Foster was attending Yale University and repeatedly tried calling her and left messages under her door. His attempt on Reagan’s life was seen as his way of gaining her attention and somehow becoming her equal. Hinckley was found by a jury to be legally insane and confined to a psychiatric facility. The verdict led some states to rewrite their laws on the insanity defense.
In 2008, Erin Andrews, a reporter for ESPN, was filmed in the nude by Michael David Barrett with his cell phone while spying at her through a peephole in her hotel door. Barrett had been stalking Andrews for 18 months before the filming. After Barrett uploaded the film onto the Internet, causing a national voyeuristic sensation, he was arrested and sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.
