From George Harrison to Monica Seles: Six Celebrities Who Survived Assassination Attempts

These Celebrities Were Lucky

Celebrities seem to be living the fairytale, for their fans. They can have every luxury they want in their footsteps, and enjoy the adoration of hundreds of followers. But, the reality is quite different from this assumption. Sometimes the spotlight celebrities find themselves in makes them easy targets of violence. Like common folks, they might also have disagreements, which can turn deadly. Attacks can happen to them for various reasons ranging from obsession to greed. Here are six celebrities who survived a murder attempt, and continued the story of their life.

1. George Harrison

The world was stunned when news of John Lennon's death by shooting hit the news. George Harrison, another member of the Beatles almost became the second member to be killed from the quartet in 1999, Fox News reported. An intruder entered his Friar Park mansion when he and his wife were in it. Harrison was in his bedroom and came down to the hall after hearing a sound. Just after descending the stairs, he saw a man, holding a knife. A struggle ensued, with the intruder getting on top of Harrison, and stabbing the latter repeatedly. Harrison later said he thought to himself, "I’m being murdered in my own house." Harrison's wife Olivia saved the musician and bludgeoned the attacker with a lamp. Harrison was quickly taken to the hospital, where he was treated for his injuries, and managed to survive. The attacker was identified to be Michael Abram, a 34-year-old Liverpool resident and paranoid schizophrenic. He was found not guilty of attempted murder because of insanity. He was ordered to be detained "indefinitely" at a psychiatric unit near Liverpool. The attacker was reportedly released in 2002.

2. Andy Warhol

Valerie Solanas, a playwright and actress, thought Andy Warhol had stolen her play, so she shot him with a gun, HISTORY reported. In the 1960s Warhol was the talk of the town with his art and movies. Solanas was trying to convince him to produce her play, SCUM Manifesto, which she wrote between 1965 and 1967. Her manuscript got lost one day, and she thought Warhol wanted to steal her idea. She had heard rumors that Warhol would take content from new artists, and then present it to the world as his own. Solanas called Warhol multiple times, in the first few interactions, he denied the accusation and later stopped picking up her phone. Solanas shot both Warhol and Mario Amaya, the London art gallery owner he was meeting with, at an office in 33 Union Square West on June 3, 1968. Warhol was briefly declared dead, after the ordeal, but doctors managed to revive him. The injuries were so grievous that Warhol had to wear a surgical brace his entire life. Solanas surrendered to police and was sentenced to three years for assault charges. The manuscript was later found in a trunk.

3. Björk

Ricardo Lopez, an artist, was a huge fan of Björk, a famous pop star in the 90s, Far Out Magazine reported. He was fascinated with the singer and felt disappointed when the press began to report on her relationship with musician and actor Goldie. In 1992, Lopez allegedly decided to murder Björk so that no one else could date her. His initial plan was to send a letter bomb filled with HIV-contaminated syringes, but it did not work. The fan reportedly decided to send the singer a bomb filled with sulphuric acid. He hid the bomb in a hollowed-out book, which when opened will spray sulphuric acid on the recipient. The man then allegedly sent the package to Björk's London address. After that he began recording a video diary, sharing his last wishes. He painted himself in red and green, wrote racial slurs on the walls of his room, put on Björk's music, and then shot himself, as per the video. Neighbors informed police of blood dripping from his room, and after coming to the site officials found the video diaries. This gave officials a heads-up about Lopez's plan. The Scotland Yard stopped the package from reaching Björk. 

4. Mick Jagger

Mick Jagger had a falling out with Hells Angels, a notorious gang of bike riders after they killed one of his fans during his band's infamous free concert at Altamont in 1969, BBC reported. The singer stopped using people from the Hells Angels as bouncers which angered the group. The gang allegedly decided to hatch an assassination plot, to teach the Rolling Stones frontman a lesson. The men from the gang reportedly took a boat to reach Jagger. "The boat was hit by a storm and all of the men were thrown overboard," Tom Mangold, British broadcaster and journalist shared. All the men survived the storm and Hells Angels never planned another attack on the singer.

5. 50 Cent

In 2000, 50 Cent, the rapper was shot nine times in front of his house, ABC3340 reported. He was taken to the hospital where he recuperated from the wounds. The rapper's real name is Curtis James Jackson III, and he reportedly also released a song about the ordeal in 2003. Before gaining fame as a rap artist, Jackson was allegedly involved in the drug trade, The Guardian reported. For years, the rapper claimed that the man who shot him was a low-level drug dealer, who was later killed by others. In 2002, former McGriff gangsta, Jon Ragin, testified that a three-man hit squad associated with drug lord Kenneth McGriff, aka Supreme, was responsible for the shooting. The hit was ordered because Jackson wrote a disparaging song about McGriff.

6. Monica Seles

In 1993, tennis player, Monica Seles was stabbed by 38-year-old Gunter Parche, because he wanted his favorite Steffi Graf to regain her no.1 ranking, HISTORY reported. The attack happened when Seles was sitting on a courtside seat during a changeover in her match against Magdalena Maleeva at the Hamburg Open. Parche leaned over a fence and repeatedly stabbed Seles between the shoulder blades with a knife. The objective was to take her out of professional tennis, for the time being, so that Graf could overtake her. Parche, an unemployed German, claimed that the objective was to hurt Seles and not to kill her. He was sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence for the charge of grievous bodily harm. Seles returned to action in 1995.