Laura Prepon Protection Order: ‘OITNB’ Star Fears For Her Safety After Being Threatened By Fan
Laura Prepon, star of the popular show Orange Is the New Black, and Jenji Kohan, creator of the series, are fearing for their safety after they were harassed by a crazed fan. The actress and Kohan have now taken action after they were threatened by a very aggressive stalker. Both have filed separate protection orders against the man and both orders of protection have been granted by the courts. According to a report from TMZ, Kohan claims that the man threatened her on Instagram last week with an audio recording that said, “Get ready, violence is coming.”
William Austin is the name of the stalker who sent Kohan the disturbing audio recording. Meanwhile, Prepon’s documents regarding the matter do not specify a threat, but Laura was allegedly sent several threatening messages via various social networks.
Laura has finally got a restraining order against the creepy stalker, thanks everyone who helped by reporting him! https://t.co/4NvxO7aRE9
— Jo (@LikeAVause) December 3, 2015
In fact, a look at Austin’s Twitter account revealed that he mentioned Laura Prepon several times in his tweets. And In October, Austin, with his Twitter account @1913WillAustin, published a picture of Prepon and wrote the following message to accompany the image.
“Here is a recent picture of Laura Prepon my Wifey and Friend.”
The above tweet was followed by several emoticons including an angry face, a kiss mouth, a gun, a knife and an engagement ring.
Here is a recent picture of LauraPrepon my Wifey and Friend??????? pic.twitter.com/VvSvx0bWsM
— William Erwin Austin (@1913WillAustin) October 17, 2015
The judge handling the case has considered the evidence and has imposed on Austin a restraining order that mandates that he must stay at least 100 yards away from them and their family.
TMZ tried to contact Austin, but so far they have not received a response.
How should one react when someone on Twitter threatens you with a message like the one above? It can be said that Laura Prepon, who is perhaps best known for her role as Donna Pinciotti in all eight seasons of the Fox sitcom That ’70s Show, took the right course of action by obtaining a protection order.
According to Gossip Cop, this isn’t the first time an Orange Is The New Black star has been harassed by a fan. In July of last year, Jeanine Heller was arrested and sentenced to six months in jail for allegedly sending hundreds of creepy text and e-mail messages to actress Taryn Manning, who plays homophobic, born-again-Christian ex-meth addict Tiffany “Pennsatucky” Doggett in the original Netflix series. Following Heller’s arrest, in November 2014, Manning was also arrested on charges of making criminal threats against Heller, her former roommate.
Laura Prepon has become accustomed to fans going wild about the show, and in a recent interview with the Evening Standard, she told how she has had several strange encounters with fans.
“Our fans are passionate,” the 35-year-old said. “I’ve seen big tattoos of me. One woman covered her entire calf with my face. I’m a big poker fan and another one made me a set called ‘Prepon Poker.’ Plus lots of drawings, painted and animated things. It’s crazy.”
To those unfamiliar with the award-winning show, OITNB is based on Piper Kerman’s 2010 memoir, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison, which talks about her experiences at FCI Danbury, a minimum-security federal prison. The show is Netflix’s most-watched series and it has received critical acclaim. According to Wikipedia, for its first season, the series garnered 12 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, winning three.
[Image via Andrew Toth/Getty Images Entertainment]
