Ashley Johnson opened up about a frightening incident in which she was nearly abducted by a fan after a live taping of Growing Pains. Reflecting on the incident, the actress, known for her voice work in The Last of Us video game series, said she didn’t feel scared because she “was such a polite kid at the time.”
Ashley Johnson spoke about the frightening attempted abduction that happened during her early acting career
On an episode of her podcast, Weird Kids, which she co-hosts with Taliesin Jaffe, Johnson recalled that the incident occurred while she was filming the ABC sitcom Growing Pains. She was around six or seven years old.
Johnson, who joined the sitcom as Chrissy Seaver and remained on the show from 1990 until its finale in 1992, said, as per People, “It was in the first year I was on, and we had only done a couple of film nights. So, I hadn’t done that many yet, and at that time, all of the cast sort of had trailers, and they were like old camper trailers. They’re not like the fancy trailers that they are now. They were great. We would exit our trailers before the shoot, and the audience that would be walking in, you would walk by the audience before you would walk into the studio.”
Johnson said the situation took a darker turn when someone reportedly sent a message that they planned to come to the set with a gun and kill members of the cast. She stated that modern security protocols were largely absent at the time, with studio audience members sitting only “within five feet” of the cast.
According to Johnson, she was walking alongside her mother when a man unexpectedly rushed out of a line, picked her up, and began running away. She said security was eventually able to stop him. Johnson further recounted that she was walking with her mother when a man abruptly stepped out of a line, grabbed her, and fled. She said security was eventually able to stop him. However, the attacker, who she claimed was carrying a gun, fled with one of her shoes. She joked that it actually belonged to the show’s wardrobe department.
She further added that she didn’t feel particularly scared during the incident because, as a child, she was “such a polite kid.” She recalled wondering who the man was rather than realizing the danger of the situation. She also said he appeared to be under the influence of drugs, which she believed contributed to his unusual strength.
After the sitcom ended, Johnson reprised her role as Chrissy Seaver in the 2000 reunion film The Growing Pains Movie and its 2004 sequel, Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers. As per TV Insider, Johnson appeared in films including The Help (2011) and The Avengers (2012) while taking on recurring TV roles in The Killing and Spooked. In 2015, she was cast as forensic specialist Patterson on the Emmy-nominated drama Blindspot.
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