Ashley Johnson Says Armed Fan Tried to Grab Her Off 'Growing Pains' Set When She Was 7

Ashley Johnson, the actress who played Chrissy Seaver on "Growing Pains," says she was nearly abducted from the set as a 7-year-old by a man she says was armed.

Johnson described the incident on the "Weird Kids" podcast, saying it happened during her first year on the show, only a couple of live film nights into her time on production. She said producers had already received a written threat before the taping.

"Somebody had written in and said that 'I am coming to set, and I am going to bring a gun ... I am going to murder some of the cast,'" Johnson said, according to Fox News.

Despite that warning, Johnson said the security setup at the time put cast and audience members in close proximity with little separation. Cast trailers were ordinary camper-style units, she said, not the enclosed, guarded setups used on productions today. Actors walked directly past the studio audience line on their way in, sometimes within five feet of strangers.

That proximity is what let a man break away from the line and grab her, Johnson said. She was walking with her mother when the man lunged.

"I'm walking with my mom, and then I just remember some guy hops out of the line, and he grabs me ... grabs me up and starts booking it," Johnson said. "And all I remember is like, there was security that somehow got on him after some time."

Johnson said she was too young at the time to fully process how dangerous the moment was. She recalled the physical sensation of being lifted and carried, describing herself as "flying around in the air" while security wrestled the man to the ground.

Johnson said the man was armed and that he seemed to be under the influence of something, describing him as unusually strong. No further detail on the man's identity, motive, or what happened to him afterward has been reported. It is not clear whether he was arrested, charged, or whether law enforcement was involved beyond the studio's own security staff. Johnson's podcast comments are the only public account of the incident.

Johnson joined "Growing Pains" in 1990 as Chrissy Seaver, becoming the youngest member of the sitcom's family alongside Alan Thicke, Joanna Kerns, Kirk Cameron, Tracey Gold and Jeremy Miller. Leonardo DiCaprio later joined the cast before the show's 1992 finale. Johnson has gone on to a long career in television and voice acting, including playing Ellie in "The Last of Us" video game franchise and appearing as Anna in HBO's television adaptation.

The account fits a broader, well-documented pattern from that era of television. Studio security in the 1980s and early 1990s, even for shows with sizable young casts, often relied on ad hoc measures rather than the layered screening, credentialing and barrier systems common on sets today. Threat letters were sometimes handled informally rather than escalated to police.

A reasonable skeptic might ask why a studio that had already received a written threat naming a gun and a plan to "murder some of the cast" didn't tighten access before the audience was let in that night. That's a fair question, and Johnson's account doesn't answer it. Nothing in her retelling explains what steps, if any, producers took after receiving the letter, or whether the incident changed how the production screened studio audiences afterward.

What is clear from Johnson's account is the outcome: security intervened before the man got her out of the building, and the show continued production for several more seasons. What isn't clear is whether the threat letter and the abduction attempt were ever connected, whether the man was prosecuted, or whether any policy changes followed.