Miranda Cosgrove Finds a Dead Man in Her Yard and 8 Other Scary Fan Encounters
Earlier today, we reported on a resurfacing story about Nickelodeon star Miranda Cosgrove. Back in 2020, while guesting on Whitney Cummings' "Good For You Podcast with Whitney Cummings," Cosgrove related a crazy story about narrowly escaping an attempt on her life by a man who had waited in her yard for six hours. After shooting at a woman whose car resembled Cosgrove's, the man set himself on fire and shot himself, ending his life. Cosgrove's story is now going viral on TikTok two years later.
While it hasn't been confirmed that the man was Cosgrove's fan, the fact that he had been waiting for the actress to return for six hours reminds us of other scary fan encounters celebrities have faced.
8 Scary Fan Encounters That Celebrities Had to Deal with
1. Rihanna's Stalker Threw a Chair Through Her Window and Claimed to Be Her Future Husband
Nowadays, we know that Rihanna is happily expecting a child with ASAP Rocky. However, back in 2013, Rihanna was granted a restraining order after a stalker broke into her home after throwing a chair through a window. When confronted by security, the man claimed that he would be the singer's future husband - as if that would bring him to her good graces.
2. U-Know Yunho Almost Dies After Drinking Orange Juice Laced with Superglue
Back in 2006, when legendary K-Pop group TVXQ was still five, leader U-Know Yunho was almost poisoned by orange juice laced with superglue. The concoction was given to Yunho by an anti-fan, and he was hospitalized for several days. Understandably, after the incident, Yunho also experienced an anxiety disorder, which made it difficult for him to drink orange juice.
3. Mayu Tomita Was Stabbed 61 Times By a Fan for Returning His Gifts
In 2016, Mayu Tomita, a J-Pop star, was attacked by a fan after he cornered her outside a venue where she was going to perform. Angered by Tomita returning his gifts, the fan ended up stabbing the singer 61 times after he confronted her and tried to get an answer out of her for why she did so. However, prior to the attack, Tomita's stalker had left her numerous threatening messages, which led to Tomita approaching the Tokyo Metropolitan Police for protection.
Sadly, the police chose inaction, which is why the singer later filed a lawsuit against the government for not doing enough to protect her. According to CNN, as a result of Tomita's attack, Japan has "tightened its laws to classify threatening text messages and online comments as stalking."
4. Kendall Jenner's Stalker was Arrested by ICE
Contrary to what happened to Mayu Tomita, this is a story about the authorities stepping in before tragedy could occur. In 2019, TMZ reported that ICE had arrested a Canadian fan who had been stalking Kendall Jenner. The Canadian man had twice broke into Jenner's property by scaling a hill. In a surely terrifying chain of events, the man made it close enough to reach Jenner's pool and then later her porch. After the arrest, an ICE spokesperson said, "This timely arrest could very well have prevented a violent crime. Our special agents acted quickly on this tip to ensure that this obsessive behavior didn't escalate to become a tragedy." We're glad that Jenner was okay!
5. Hey! Say! JUMP Cancels Arena Tour Due to Poor Fan Behavior Disrupting Public Transportation
For J-Pop acts, an arena tour is huge deal. However, in 2019, Johnny & Associates boyband Hey! Say! JUMP had to cancel their tour due to their fans' poor behavior on public transportation becoming an "inconvenience caused to the general public." While the members had expressed an eagerness to tour, because the band requested an improvement in fan behavior and saw none, the agency had decided on the drastic measure. We have to wonder what kind of crazy behavior JUMP fans had engaged in to elicit this kind of strict reaction from Johnny & Associates.
6. Two Men in Prison Once Conspired to Kidnap, Castrate, and Kill Justin Bieber
Back in 2012, inmates at a jail in New Mexico once masterminded a plot to kidnap, castrate, and then kill pop singer Justin Bieber. The main conspirator in this scheme has a tattoo of Bieber on his leg and "correspond with Bieber, who never responded." Due to being ignored, the man decided to grab Bieber's attention with their plot and enlisted the help of his nephew, who was also in the jail. Allegedly, when asked about his actions, one of the men said, "He's a good-looking kid. Would I go to bed with him? Yeah. He's legal, so probably," which is quite scary.
7. A Man Thought He Was Married to Taylor Swift and Threatened Her and Her Family
In 2014, singer Taylor Swift was granted a restraining order against a fan who had been "harassing the singer since 2011 with letters, emails and tweets." In a letter that was revealed to the press, the man seemed to believe that he was married to Swift and threatened to kill anyone who gets in the way of his "marriage" with Swift. In response, Swift sought a restraining order due to the distress that the incident was causing her and her family. Sounds like the fan was delusional.
8. A German Fan of TWICE's Nayeon Travels to South Korea Twice Hoping to Meet Her
A German fan once posted a video to YouTube declaring his intent to travel to South Korea to give love letters to TWICE's Nayeon. Claiming to have been in love with her since 2016, the fan even sent messages saying that if Nayeon dated anyone behind his back, he would have no choice but to end her life. Things got even scarier when the fan got close enough to board the same flight as TWICE when they traveled back to South Korea from their activities in Japan. According to reports, the fan tried to get close to Nayeon, but a staff member stepped in between them and told him to back off. This incident shook the TWICE members up so much that an Instagram story was posted to TWICE's account of a plane window that was captioned with: "Please go back home. Please stop. Please I beg you." Now that's way too close of a call!
And that's our list! While some celebrities managed to get away without harm, others weren't so lucky. No matter how much of a parasocial relationship you feel like you have with a celebrity, they're still a human whose personal safety needs to be protected. We can't understand why fans would take their love this far, and hope that fans can respect these celebrities enough to admire them from afar.
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