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Uma Thurman tells US court of 'nightmare' stalker ordeal
Ed Pilkington in New York
Friday May 2, 2008
The Guardian
Actor Uma Thurman went face-to-face with her stalker yesterday, telling a New York court that the man who had followed her for two years had sickened and terrified her. "I was completely freaked out. It was like a nightmare. It was scary," she said, referring to the behaviour of Jack Jordan, a University of Chicago graduate who had sent her love notes.
Jordan is charged with stalking and harassment and could face up to a year in jail. He allegedly stalked the star of films such as Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction from early 2005 until his arrest in October 2007.
Thurman was visibly upset during her testimony. Her hand shook as she held up a card that the defendant sent her at a film set in Manhattan, which read: "My hands should be on your body at all times."
The card carried a drawing of a grave with a headstone and a man standing on the edge of a razor blade. Jordan tried to give it to her in her trailer on the Manhattan film set of My Super Ex-Girlfriend. The actor said that when she opened the card, bits of paper fell out, including a picture of a headless bride.
Later she contacted her parents in upstate New York who said they had also been contacted by Jordan. "I felt a stone drop in my stomach ... The idea that this had a history made it even more terrifying," she said.
In three days of hearings, the court learnt that Jordon, 37, had received treatment for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. His lawyer, George Vomvolakis, argued that he should be in treatment, not in jail. In opening statements, Vomvolakis said the defendant "does not think the way you and I think. He doesn't know the boundaries you and I know. He thinks it's romantic."
The prosecution told the court that he tried to contact the actor for more than two years, showing up at her trailer on the set of My Super Ex-Girlfriend, and sitting on the steps of her Greenwich Village home where she lives with her two children. At one point he sent Thurman's family an email saying: "I will kill myself if I do not get to see Uma Thurman within 24 to 48 hours."
Thurman said one of the most distressing events had been when Jordan mentioned her two children, aged six and nine, in his emails. One said: "You have no children," and called them an illusion. Emails to Thurman's father in April 2005 also mentioned a biblical passage where God tells Abraham to kill his son Isaac.
"I don't think any mother or parent would want a stranger to fixate on their children, and fixate on them not existing; that was terrifying," she told the court.
Jordan remains free on $10,000 (£5,000) bail.
Ed Pilkington in New York
Friday May 2, 2008
The Guardian
Actor Uma Thurman went face-to-face with her stalker yesterday, telling a New York court that the man who had followed her for two years had sickened and terrified her. "I was completely freaked out. It was like a nightmare. It was scary," she said, referring to the behaviour of Jack Jordan, a University of Chicago graduate who had sent her love notes.
Jordan is charged with stalking and harassment and could face up to a year in jail. He allegedly stalked the star of films such as Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction from early 2005 until his arrest in October 2007.
Thurman was visibly upset during her testimony. Her hand shook as she held up a card that the defendant sent her at a film set in Manhattan, which read: "My hands should be on your body at all times."
The card carried a drawing of a grave with a headstone and a man standing on the edge of a razor blade. Jordan tried to give it to her in her trailer on the Manhattan film set of My Super Ex-Girlfriend. The actor said that when she opened the card, bits of paper fell out, including a picture of a headless bride.
Later she contacted her parents in upstate New York who said they had also been contacted by Jordan. "I felt a stone drop in my stomach ... The idea that this had a history made it even more terrifying," she said.
In three days of hearings, the court learnt that Jordon, 37, had received treatment for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. His lawyer, George Vomvolakis, argued that he should be in treatment, not in jail. In opening statements, Vomvolakis said the defendant "does not think the way you and I think. He doesn't know the boundaries you and I know. He thinks it's romantic."
The prosecution told the court that he tried to contact the actor for more than two years, showing up at her trailer on the set of My Super Ex-Girlfriend, and sitting on the steps of her Greenwich Village home where she lives with her two children. At one point he sent Thurman's family an email saying: "I will kill myself if I do not get to see Uma Thurman within 24 to 48 hours."
Thurman said one of the most distressing events had been when Jordan mentioned her two children, aged six and nine, in his emails. One said: "You have no children," and called them an illusion. Emails to Thurman's father in April 2005 also mentioned a biblical passage where God tells Abraham to kill his son Isaac.
"I don't think any mother or parent would want a stranger to fixate on their children, and fixate on them not existing; that was terrifying," she told the court.
Jordan remains free on $10,000 (£5,000) bail.
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