Ashley Johnson recounts kidnapping attempt on Growing Pains

Actress Ashley Johnson has revealed she was the target of a frightening kidnapping attempt as a young child on the set of the 1990s sitcom "Growing Pains." Johnson, now 42, shared the story on a recent episode of the "Weird Kids" podcast, describing how a man grabbed her and tried to run off with her during her first year on the show, when she was six or seven years old.

The incident occurred on the Warner Bros. lot during a live taping in the early 1990s. Johnson recalled walking with her mother from her trailer toward the studio, passing within five feet of the studio audience, a common practice at the time. Security protocols were less stringent, lacking modern measures like metal detectors. According to Johnson, the production had previously received a threatening letter from a fan which stated, "I am coming to set and I am going to bring a gun, and I am going to murder some of the cast."

Johnson described the sudden attack, saying a man jumped out of the audience line, grabbed her, and began running. Security personnel intervened quickly, wrestling the assailant to the ground in a chaotic struggle during which Johnson remembers being flung through the air. The man was armed...