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Stalking is following or observing a person persistently and surreptitiously, sometimes done out of obsession or derangement. Stalking may involve the intent to acquire private information or objects. Common victims of stalking include celebrities, ex-husbands/wives and -boy/girlfriends, and teachers. In more extreme cases, stalking leads to threats or violence.

Examples are a fan stalking a celebrity, somebody stalking an ex-lover whom they want back, and other cases of non-reciprocal love.

The legality of the practice is defined differently under different jurisdictions; some define the act as it stands as illegal, while some only define stalking illegal once it becomes threatening or endangers the one being stalked.

Celebrities

Stalkers have been following celebrities around since the advent of yellow journalism. In some cases, the stalking behavior in question is harmless and does not go to extremes. In other cases, however, the celebrities being targeted have to leave their profession for many years while they build a new life (as was the case of Andrea Evans), or the celebrities being targeted by the stalker become the victim of violent attacks (some celebrities, like Theresa Saldana, have been able to live and tell the tale, while others, like Rebecca Schaeffer and John Lennon, did not).

Female celebrities

• Sheryl Crow - confronted by Ambrose Kappos
• Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis - confronted
• Gwyneth Paltrow - confronted by Ron Galella
• Rebecca Schaeffer - MURDERED by Robert Bardo
• Barbara Mandrell - confronted by Edwin John Carlson
• Madonna - confronted by Robert Hoskins who was shot but not killed by one of her bodyguards
• Olivia Newton John - confronted by Michael Perry who camped behind her house and later MURDERED his family.
• Jodie Foster - John Hinckley Jr. stalked her

Male celebrities

• Ronald Reagan - John Hinckley Jr. shot President Reagan to impress Jodie Foster
• John Lennon - murdered by Mark David Chapman
• Michael J. Fox - confronted by Tina Ledbetter
• Scott Bakula - confronted by Tina Ledbetter
• Steven Spielberg - confronted by Jonathan Norman
• Rush Limbaugh - damaging lies printed about him by former drug addict Todd Fahey

David Letterman, Rebecca Schaeffer, Theresa Saldana, Cher, Olivia Newton-John, Sheena Easton, Barbara Mandrell, Maddona, Michael Jackson, Michael J. Fox, Justine Bateman, Sarah McGlocklin, Belinda Carlisle, David Bowie, Whitney Houston, Vanessa Williams, Sharon Gless, Brad Pitt, Monica Sales, Nicole Kidman. Jeri Ryan, Meg Ryan, Mel Gibson, Anne Murray, Sonny Bono and even Steven Spielberg are just a few of the celebrities who have been stalked.

See also

• Erotomania

External links and references

• Benschop, Albert: Cyberstalking - Menaced on the internet. In: Sociosite - Peculiarities of Cyberspace.
• The Australian Anti-stalking and threat website

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• Crimes