S21 Ep2: Who I Really Am: Life After The Attempt On Reagan w/ John Hinckley Jr.
Darkness Radio
Darkness Radio
4.8 • 3.2K Ratings
🗓️ 6 January 2026
⏱️ 181 minutes
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Summary
As shots rang out on March 30, 1981, outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., President Ronald Reagan and three others lay seriously wounded. Just two months after Reagan was sworn in as the 40th president, John Hinckley Jr. shocked the world with his obsession with a movie star. What followed was chaos. America learned of the deep psychosis that led to Hinckley’s obsession with actress Jodie Foster, and how, in his mind, he did it all for her. His trial gripped the nation. Many expected a guilty verdict, but his acquittal on grounds of insanity sparked outrage and forever changed how the law viewed mental illness.
Now, for the first time, Hinckley tells his own story. He takes us through an early life of unfulfilled dreams, a music career, and a college degree that slipped away, as well as the descent into a mind overcome by delusion. He recounts the years spent in confinement at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, the slow climb toward recovery, and the people who helped him find his way back.
A life defined by a single, horrific act becomes something more: a story of mental illness, redemption, and the long road to understanding the man behind one of America’s most infamous moments.
On today's TCT, we are joined by John Hinckley Jr. as he completely opens up to us about many topics including his issues with mental illness, his past obsession with Jodie Foster, his remorse over the attempted assassination of President Reagan and injuring the people involved, continued public backlash against him 45 years later, and much more!
Get John Hinckley Jr.& Jason Norman's book, "Who I Really Am here: https://wildbluepress.com/john-hinckley-jr-true-crime-memoir-jason-norman/
Listen to some of John's original music here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCck3J5KR3INUP1K-hrBe8iA
PLUS AN ALL NEW DUMB CRIMES AND STUPID CRIMINALS W/ JESSICA FREEBURG!!
Check out Jessica Freeburg's website and get tickets to her events here: https://jessicafreeburg.com/upcoming-events/
and check out Jess on Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jessicafreeburgwrites
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome into the best in True Crime Podcasting. |
| 0:25.1 | This is True Crime Tuesday. |
| 0:26.0 | I'm your host, Tim Dennis. |
| 0:27.6 | 20th anniversary month is often running. |
| 0:30.3 | 20 years now in the making and 20, well, we're going into year 21 here. |
| 0:36.8 | And it is a big month. and we have a big guest today. |
| 0:40.5 | I'll start off by saying this. |
| 0:44.4 | Today's program is going to deal with the fine line between love and obsession. |
| 0:50.6 | It'll deal with mental health. |
| 0:53.2 | And we are big mental health advocates on this show I will |
| 0:58.4 | throw in this as well I'll tell you this much this guest when I was young was a little bit of |
| 1:05.3 | the boogeyman until I read this book and now I fully understand a lot more about our guests today. |
| 1:13.6 | And I can tell you he is no more the boogeyman in my eyes. |
| 1:17.4 | And I'll tell you why exactly. |
| 1:19.9 | And I want him to understand why. |
| 1:22.3 | Because there is a huge stigma about him out there. |
| 1:24.7 | And it came from one line in a print song believe it or not |
| 1:27.5 | there's a print song called anti-christian and there's and he'll relate to this because in the |
| 1:34.0 | same line in the same stands in the same phrase and we share the love of music prince says |
| 1:39.8 | something about mark mark mark chapman where where he says something about Lenin. |
| 1:46.9 | He says, they killed Lenin, shot him down cold, they tried to kill Reagan, everybody screamed |
| 1:54.0 | gun control. |
... |
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