‘Growing Pains’ star Ashley Johnson reveals gun threat, abduction attempt
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Ashley Johnson recalls a scary moment from her childhood in Hollywood, describing a fan trying to kidnap her during a live taping of “Growing Pains.”
The former child star said she was just 7 years old when an armed fan stepped out of the studio audience line during a live taping and tried to grab her and take her away after the production team received a threatening warning that someone was planning to bring a gun to the set. Johnson said the man was armed.
“This was my first year attending and we had only done a few movie nights,” Johnson began. “Weird Kids” podcast.
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Ashley Johnson, the child star behind Chrissy Seaver, describes how lax security on the “Growing Pains” set led to a terrifying kidnapping attempt by an armed fan. (Christopher Polk/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
He said security around cast members back then was much less restrictive than it is today.
“So I hadn’t done that much yet… and at the time they kind of had trailers of the whole cast and they were like old trailer trailers,” Johnson said. “It’s not like they’re the flashy caravans they are today.”
Ashley Johnson said that when she was 7, a man with a gun grabbed her during a live taping of “Growing Pains” after the production team received a chilling threat. (Walt Disney Television/Getty Images)
He explained that the cast walked directly past the audience on their way to the studio.
“Before the shoot we would come out of our trailers and the audience would come in, you would walk past the audience before entering the studio,” he said.
“It’s going to get a little dark, but someone wrote and said: ‘I’m coming to the set 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 “Growing Pains” cast, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Alan Thicke, Jeremy Miller, Kirk Cameron, Joanna Kerns, Tracey Gold and Ashley Johnson. (Bob D’Amico/ABC)
As the cast entered the studio and the audience was just “six feet away,” Johnson said a man suddenly lunged toward her.
“I’m walking with my mom and then I remember a guy jumped out of the line and grabbed me… grabbed me and started booking me,” she said. “And all I remember is that after a while, somehow the security guards attacked him.”
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Johnson pointed out that he was too young to understand the danger.
He recalled “flying through the air” as security tackled the suspect to the ground.
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‘The Last of Us’ actress Ashley Johnson has revealed that an armed fan tried to kidnap her when she was 7 years old during a ‘Growing Pains’ live taping after a threat was sent on set. (Ben Gabbe/Getty Images)
“I had no idea what happened, but I was very upset and they talked to me about it afterwards. ‘Are you okay?’ they said. … So I just said: ‘I think I’m going to get in trouble.'”
“But he was recovering. They caught him. That was it. He had something in his head. It wasn’t meth, but it was something – like it was very strong,” he said.
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Looking back, Johnson said he wasn’t immediately afraid because “I was a very polite kid then.”
Johnson joined “Growing Pains” as Chrissy Seaver in 1990 and became the youngest 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 series’ 1992 finale.
The actress has built a decades-long career on screen and in voice acting, earning critical acclaim for her role as Ellie in the video game series “The Last of Us” before landing the role of Ellie’s mother, Anna, in HBO’s television adaptation.
