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Ashley Johnson recalls a terrifying moment from her childhood in Hollywood, revealing that a fan grabbed her and tried to kidnap her during a live taping of “Growing Pains.”
The former child actor says he was just 7 years old when an armed fan burst into the audience stage, grabbed him and tried to carry him off during a live taping after a producer received a warning that someone planned to bring a gun to the set. Johnson said the man was armed.
“It was the first year I was there, and we had done a couple of movie nights,” Johnson began on the “Weird Kids” podcast.
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The child star behind Chrissy Seaver, Ashley Johnson, reveals that lax security on the set of “Growing Pains” led to a terrifying kidnapping attempt by an armed fan. (Christopher Polk/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
Back then, he said, the security of actors was much more restrictive than it is today.
“So, I hadn’t done that … and at the time, all the actors had trailers, and they were like old trailers,” Johnson said. “It’s like they’re not like the popular trailers that are out there now.”
Ashley Johnson says an armed man grabbed her during a live taping of “Growing Pains” when she was 7 years old, after the production received a serious threat. (Walt Disney Television/Getty Images)
He explained that the actors walk directly past the audience on their way to the studio.
“We were coming out of our trailers before shooting with the audience coming in, you would pass in front of people before you entered the studio,” he said.
“And this is going to be a little dark, but someone had written ‘I’m coming to stop, and I’m going to bring a gun … I’m going to kill some of the actors.'”
This 1991 photo released by ABC shows the cast of “Growing Pains,” including Leonardo DiCaprio, Alan Thicke, Jeremy Miller, Kirk Cameron, Joanna Kerns, Tracey Gold and Ashley Johnson. (Bob D’Amico/ABC)
As audience members “walked five feet” as the cast walked to the studio, Johnson said one man suddenly ran into him.
“So, I’m walking with my mom, and I remember a guy jumping out of the line, and he grabbed me … he grabbed me and started booking it,” she said. “And just what I remember, there was security that somehow got to him after some time.”
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Johnson stated that he was too young to take the risk.
He remembered “flying in the air” when the guards wrestled the suspect to the ground.
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“The Last of Us” actress Ashley Johnson has revealed the armed fan who tried to kidnap her at the age of 7 during the live taping of ‘Growing Pains’ after a threat was sent on set. (Ben Gabbe/Getty Images)
“I didn’t know what was going on, but I was really upset, and they were talking to me about it afterwards. And they were like, ‘Are you okay?’ … And I just said, ‘I just think I’m going to be in trouble.’
“But he was packing. They found him. This was something. He was high on something. It wasn’t meth, but it was something – like, he was very high,” he said.
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Looking back, Johnson said he didn’t immediately panic because, “I was a decent kid at the time.”
Johnson joined “Growing Pains” in 1990 as Chrissy Seaver, becoming a young member of the sitcom family alongside Alan Thicke, Joanna Kerns, Kirk Cameron, Tracey Gold and Jeremy Miller.
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Leonardo DiCaprio later joined the cast before the 1992 finale.
The actress went on to build a career that spanned decades on screen and in voice acting, gaining widespread fame as Ellie in the video game “The Last of Us” before appearing as Anna, Ellie’s mother, in the HBO television series.
