A Stalked Celebrity Couple Speaks Out

Dec. 11 -- Even though stalkers pick their targets pretty much at random, most celebrities won't talk about being stalked for fear they might encourage it.

However, actor Dan Aykroyd and his wife, actress Donna Dixon, agreed to speak out on Primetime for the first time on what it means to be on the receiving end of obsession.

Dixon says she attracted her first stalker in her hometown, when she was just 16. She had been driving a new Corvette, and passed a middle-aged man getting out of his own Corvette. "You've got great taste," she told him.

It was just four words, but, says Dixon now, "That's all it takes. In a matter of a second your life can, you know, entirely change."

She says the man began following her, writing to her and spying on her. Once, he came to her family's house where her father confronted him, hitting him with a belt until he fled.

But Dixon says she was nearly paralyzed by fear, and she refused to go out unaccompanied because of him.

Relentless Pursuit of Friendship

Aykroyd, a former Saturday Night Live star who has appeared in numerous films, including The Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters and Trading Places, has also been stalked numerous times in his career. One woman has kept pursuing him, even to his fortified home in the Finger Lakes region in New York state.

"That didn't stop this woman from coming, coming after me," he said. "She was about in her 30s and the word was around town that she really wanted to meet me. And so of course I did my best to avoid her. I believe the advice is that you really shouldn't let them confront you."

He says the woman came onto his property and was caught by a staff member, escorted away, and arrested and charged. A year later, she returned and was caught again. That time, she had tried to damage the house, he says, and is now serving time in state prison.

Asked what he thought she wanted from him, Aykroyd says approval — she wanted to be his friend.

Rules of Staying Safe