If the promos for Tuesday night's edition of ''60 Minutes II'' were to be believed, Jodie Foster was breaking an 18-year silence about John Hinckley, the man who attempted to assassinate President Reagan to impress her in 1982. But viewers who bought the hype of CBS' commercials -- which included menacing photos of Hinckley -- may have been disappointed. Not only was the entire subject skimmed over with a few short questions, Foster herself says she revealed nothing new during the segment. ''I certainly have talked about this many times in the last 18 years,'' Foster says. ''And I don't really expand on it any more than I ever have. I think his question was, 'Was this an awful time in your life?' and I said, 'Yeah, it was a really awful time in my life,' and I don't think it was much beyond that.''
What's more, CBS neglected to explain that Foster had discussed the entire matter in a 1982 story in Esquire magazine. ''I wrote an article called 'Why Me,''' says Foster. ''I said, if you have any questions, please refer to this article, because I pretty much go into everything that I feel about this event that I can talk about. Obviously, none of these feelings are secret, because I wrote them down 18 years ago.''
So why the pre-airing buzz? ''They're trying to promote their show, so I think they look for the most scandalous, tabloid-like thing to put out there so that people will watch,'' shrugs Foster. ''I really can't explain it any other way.'' Hey, you try going up against ''Will & Grace.''
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