A German translator has admitted stalking Hollywood star Eddie Redmayne after she saw him in a play five years ago.
Gaby Stieger, 49, repeatedly loitered outside the Oscar-winning actor’s house in Southwark, south London, and sent him love letters.
She pleaded guilty to stalking at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
Gaby Stieger, 49, repeatedly loitered outside the Oscar-winning actor’s house and sent him love letters (Rachael Burnett/PA)
Redmayne described the distress it caused him and his family in a statement read to the court.
He said: “I always try to be open and friendly as support (from fans) is what gives me a career.
“I deeply regret having met Gaby Stieger – she harassed myself and my family intermittently over five years, leaving us distressed, unsafe and deeply unsettled.”
Stieger pleaded guilty at Camberwell Green Magistrates Court
She would appear outside his house “out of nowhere – observing me and my family without us knowing”, he added.
“The safety of my family is everything to me and with her behaviour we can’t feel safe,” he wrote.
He also said her face would “contort with rage” when she spoke about his wife Hannah Bagshawe.
Eddie Redmayne won an Academy award, a BAFTA and Golden Globe for his portrayal of Stephen Hawing in The Theory of Everything (Ian West/PA)
Stieger first met Redmayne, 35, after seeing him on stage at Donmar Warehouse in Covent Garden in 2012.
The following year she began visiting the set while he was filming The Theory Of Everything and trying to get Redmayne to pose in a picture with her.
Stieger followed him and his wife to a carol service at Eton College in December 2013.
She can be seen staring at him in a photograph taken by a fan.
The mother-of-two, whose teenage daughters live in Germany, started sitting in a park opposite Redmayne’s house.
She also followed him to his local Tube station and on one occasion asked him for a hug.
Stieger sent Redmayne letters “expressing admiration and love”, prosecutor Sara Ashkboos said.
Stieger, of Colindale, north London, was released on conditional bail, banning her from contacting Redmayne or going to Southwark, and is due to be sentenced on Thursday afternoon.