A Fatal Obsession with the Stars

By Anastasia Toufexis

Neighbors said the slight, bookish-looking man with curly brown hair had been wandering the streets of Los Angeles' prosperous Fairfax district for hours. He stopped residents, pulled a picture of a young woman out of a large manila envelope, and asked if they had seen her around. Eventually he learned her address. On Tuesday morning last week, say police, he waited outside her apartment for nearly four hours. Finally he apparently rang her bell. When she answered the door, he allegedly shot her dead.

The victim was Rebecca Schaeffer, 21, a rising actress who co-starred in the CBS series My Sister Sam and is featured in the current movie Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. Arrested for her murder in Tucson the next day was Robert John Bardo, 19, a former fast-food restaurant worker. Authorities describe him as "an obsessive fan of Miss Schaeffer's."

The words "obsessive fan" cause a premonitory chill among celebrities these days. Increasingly they have seen that the most fervent admirers can turn into crazed attackers. The problem has become more evident since the beginning of the decade, when Mark David Chapman killed John Lennon and John Hinckley shot President Ronald Reagan in a bizarre bid for the affection of actress Jodie Foster. There has been a rash of ugly episodes, some murderous, some merely distressing:

-- A 26-year-old woman was arrested earlier this year after allegedly sending more than 5,000 threatening letters to actor Michael J. Fox. The letters said that Fox and his new wife, actress Tracy Pollan, would die if he did not divorce her. They were signed "Your No. 1 Fan."

-- A former mental patient showed up at Universal Studios last December and allegedly shot and killed two unarmed guards after they refused his demand to see actor Michael Landon.

-- A crazed fan, convicted of knifing actress Theresa Saldana in 1982, has repeatedly threatened to kill her when he gets out of jail. Saldana has waged a public campaign to prevent the man's release. Authorities recently stayed his parole, but it is now scheduled for March.

-- A 41-year-old former legal secretary who calls herself Billie Jean Jackson was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail for violating a court order to stay away from singer Michael Jackson's Encino home and stop representing herself as his wife.

-- Talk-show host David Letterman has had his Connecticut home broken into four times and his sports car taken for a spin by a 36-year-old woman who refers to herself as "Mrs. Letterman."

-- Since 1980, a 52-year-old farmer has been convicted eleven times of harassing singer Anne Murray. He called her office 263 times in six months last year.

Such star stalkers are only just beginning to be understood. Most people are attracted by celebrities' aura of glamour, power and wealth, but normal fans know their fantasies are bounded by reality. Obsessed fans do not. Typically they are young, between 20 and 34, and emotionally unbalanced. Unable to forge relationships with the real people in their lives, they imagine intimacy with a public figure. Actors, singers, athletes, politicians -- any will serve their needs.

The attachment is usually expressed as love. In a study sponsored by the National Institute of Justice and released this year, researchers analyzed 1,500 "inappropriate" letters sent to dozens of Hollywood celebrities. Only 5% of the writers cast themselves as enemies or would-be assassins. Others saw themselves as business associates, friends or religious saviors. But the rest acted like spouses or suitors. Says Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist in Newport Beach, Calif., who directed the project: "If you didn't know who the two people were, you would think it was a normal love letter." About 15% of the writers tried to approach the stars personally, usually at their homes.

When obsessed fans turn violent, say experts, it is usually not out of hatred but because their romantic fantasies cannot be fulfilled. Celebrities with the sweetest images may be the most vulnerable, perhaps because their seeming availability makes the frustrated fan's disappointment more intense. Thus an actress like Joan Collins who portrays bitchy characters may inspire hate mail, but those who are seen as the girl next door, like Schaeffer and Saldana, will attract fans who are potentially more dangerous. Those who kill "may feel that they are going to be united in heaven, or that the person is being taken over by devils and that they're going to save them from a worse punishment," explains Janet Warren, a professor of behavioral medicine at the University of Virginia, who worked on the Justice study.

Celebrities, sometimes deliberately, sometimes unwittingly, encourage overinvolvement by their fans. A sort of perverse symbiosis exists between star and votary. Many celebrities lack sturdy egos and are looking for unqualified adoration. Others think that their most emotional and devoted fans are integral to their success and must be cultivated. Dietz deplores the Hollywood routine of answering fan mail. And he is especially critical of the practice of sending out autographed publicity photos: "Sometimes mentally ill recipients interpret the signed photograph as a personal communication confirming, for example, that they are about to be married."

Disturbed admirers may also get the wrong impression when celebrities share their private lives. Some stars appear eager to confide their most personal secrets in popular magazines, and they allow cameras to roam freely in their homes -- even their bedrooms -- on shows like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. "There's a tremendous need for caution and restraint," says Theresa Saldana. But she and others argue that it is their profession more than their publicity that exposes stars to the public.

Some celebrities invest a great deal of money to protect themselves from their fans. Gavin de Becker, who operates a 100-client security service in Los Angeles, charges those who request full-time protection an average of $225,000 a year. De Becker provides the staffs and publicists of celebrities with 20 pointers to help them screen letters or calls. A direct threat is not necessarily a good indicator of true danger, he says. " 'I'm going to kill you' is as common as a fan letter to many of these people." But, he adds, "it becomes different if someone says, 'I've sold my house, and I'm coming to get you.' " De Becker and his staff of 31 are currently keeping tabs on 5,400 people who may pose a safety hazard to his clients; about half are considered serious threats.

Warning signs of obsession are usually evident long before fans attack. Overardent admirers talk incessantly about their idols. They watch their films again and again or play their recordings over and over. They neglect responsibilities at home, school or work. Sometimes they devote an entire room to a celebrity, filling it with photographs and clippings, making it a sort of shrine. "Families should take this seriously," warns Dietz, "but they usually don't." The next step in the compulsion often involves travel, according to De Becker, first in a random pattern, then with a purpose: to follow the object of their desires.

The alleged killer of Rebecca Schaeffer appears to fit the profile to a % remarkable degree. He kept a video collection of episodes of her television show. He proudly displayed an autographed publicity photo of the actress, and he sent her "an affectionate letter" a year ago. He called her agency several times. Sadly, no one discerned in time the pattern of a fatal obsession.

With reporting by Elaine Lafferty/Los Angeles and Andrea Sachs/New York