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Ashley Johnson Says She Was Nearly Kidnapped From Growing Pains Set

Her podcast recounts a written death threat followed by an armed fan grabbing the six- or seven-year-old and security subduing him, with no contemporaneous police records publicly available.

Overview

  • Ashley Johnson disclosed the episode on her podcast, saying the incident happened in her first year on Growing Pains when she was about six or seven.
  • She says a letter warned, “I am coming to set and I am going to bring a gun and I am going to murder some of the cast,” and that a man then grabbed her as she exited a trailer.
  • Johnson recalled on-set security wrestled the attacker free, that a gun was found on him, and that he “ended up clearly going to jail” according to her account.
  • As a child she said she was confused and polite during the confrontation, at times asking the man his name and later focusing on small details like a missing shoe.
  • Reporters note the story highlights how 1990s live‑audience tapings had minimal screening and closer audience access, and current coverage repeats Johnson’s first‑person account without independent police documents or a named suspect.