Cheesy ’80s songs aside, stalking is a seriously scary situation. According to the National Center for Victims of Crime, 6.6 million people are victims of stalking each year in the United States. One in 6 women and 1 in 19 men have been stalked at some point during their lives. And victims of stalking are more likely to suffer from anxiety, insomnia, social dysfunction, and severe depression.
The rise of geo-tagging on social media — no, you may not use my location — makes stalking that much easier. Couple that with ruthless paparazzi, devoted fans, and eerily detailed search results, and celebrities are at risk for harassment more than ever before. What’s even more frightening is that these harassers are not just after an autograph or a shoutout on Twitter. Many harbor angry, deluded feelings toward the celebs, and threaten heinous violence against them. Read on to see just a few celebrities with obsessive stalkers.
Just last week, a 43-year-old man was arrested after threatening to hurt “Good Morning America” host Robin Roberts. The man allegedly showed up at the ABC studio at least eight times during the month of June looking to see Roberts, and told the security director, “When I see her, I’m going to punch her in the face.”
It seems the “Good Morning America” set is prone to dangerous drop-ins. Weeks before Robin Roberts‘ stalker was arrested, NYPD and security guards apprehended a 25-year-old man when he showed up with a knife. He told police, “I was there to kill Michael Strahan.”
Beyoncé has been forced to heighten her security detail, thanks to an obsessive British fan. She won a harassment suit against the man in 2011, after he sent her threatening letters and claimed she was a fake who had killed the real Queen Bey. But when the letters continued, her team reportedly went on high alert for her U.K. performances.
Justin Bieber was the victim of one of the most terrifying stalking cases of late, when two men were arrested for trying to kill and castrate him. The stalkers were reportedly executing a plan put together by a 45-year-old convicted murder, who told Details in 2013, “He changed, and that made me angry.”
Ashanti has more than one reason to call her new album Braveheart. The singer has been stuck in a drawn-out legal battle with a stalker. The 35-year-old man, who has already served two years in prison for sending inappropriate texts to Ashanti’s mother, is now awaiting trial for tweeting her more than 200 sexual messages and crotch shots.
You knew this one was coming. While Kim Kardashian is all too willing to share details about her life with fans, one particularly persistent man has taken things too far. He reportedly evaded security at the Jenner home and claimed to be in a relationship with both Kris and Kendall Jenner, in hopes of getting close to Kim. The house is now under the watchful eye of a 24-hour armed guard.
Earlier this year, Miley Cyrus was granted a restraining order against a 24-year-old man who stalked her at what he thought was her home. The man, who was taken to a psychiatric hospital, reportedly told police that he would keep pursuing Cyrus until he dies, and even asked them to shoot him if he couldn’t meet her.
Oscar winner Sandra Bullock is beloved by many. But one 39-year-old fan’s affection put the actress in serious danger in June, when he appeared at her bedroom door in the middle of the night. After he was arrested, police searched his home and found letters referring to Bullock and her son as his wife and child, as well as a stash of illegal machine guns.
A 28-year-old man was arrested and charged after he broke into the home of Sanaa Lathan twice in one day. He was first discovered by contractors sleeping in her laundry room, and returned hours later while Lathan was home. When she ordered him to leave, he refused, saying that he was her husband.
Rihanna was recently involved in a stalking incident when a 53-year-old homeless man delivered letters to her staff threatening to “bum (rush)” her inside her SoHo apartment. He dropped by her building at least three times with letters claiming that she had ripped off his music, before dropping a benefits card inside the building, which police used to identify and arrest him.
Jennifer Lopez was the victim of a rather obsessive stalker — even by stalking standards — in 2013. Authorities arrested a 49-year-old retired firefighter who had been squatting in the singer’s guest house for six days without being discovered by any of her staff. The man parked his car right in front of the home and even posted numerous photos of himself on the property to his Facebook page.
In June, Wendy Williams dealt with her own case of stalking. Employees at “The Wendy Williams Show” called the police on a man who was repeatedly showing up to the set to meet her, and had even managed to sneak inside. Staffers had asked the man not to return multiple times, but when he ignored requests, they involved the NYPD.