National Stalking Awareness Day 2012: Celebrity Stalker Stories

By Cristina Merrill | April 19 2012 8:44 AM

April 18 was National Stalking Awareness Day, a public initiative to encourage victims of stalking to fight back and reclaim their safety and privacy.

Reuters

Alec Baldwin is currently in a legal battle with Genevieve Sabourin, who he has accused of stalking him. But Sabourin seems to be convinced that she had a real relationship with the recently engaged "30 Rock" star. The buxom and possibly imbalanced Canadian is set to appear in court on May 14, according to a Toronto Sun report.
Reuters

Halle Berry has had more than one stalker. One is Richard Franco, who stalked her over the course of a weekend in the summer of 2011. He was sentenced to 386 days in jail back in January, according to a TMZ report. He will be put on a five-year probation when his sentence is complete and will have to complete a one-year psychological counseling program, TMZ reported. The Oscar-winning actress was also stalked by Robert Dewey Hoskins, who also stalked Madonna. Berry is reportedly considering leaving the country altogether in favor of living in Europe with fiancé Olivier Martinez and daughter, Nahla.
Reuters

Jodie Foster has had some mega-creepster stalkers. One was John Hinckley, Jr., who tried to assassinate former U.S. president Ronald Reagan. He stalked Foster when she was a student at Yale University. There's also Michael Smegal, who threatened to bomb a Los Angeles airport in a letter that mentioned Foster, the Boston Globe reported in 2008.

High-profile celebrities are often among the 3.4 million adults in the U.S. who are victimized by stalkers every year. Icky fans are an inevitable part of the fame game, but some cases have gotten out of hand.

Celebrities from the likes of talk show host David Letterman to superstar singer Madonna to Disney cutie Selena Gomez have all had to deal with creepsters who want to get near them, for whatever reason.

Here are celebrities who have had to deal with stalkers at one point or another. Reading some of these cases, you can't blame celebrities for wanting to escape the limelight.