Celebrity
Bradley Cooper Recalls The ‘Insane’ Moment He Was Held At Knifepoint In New York City
“My guard was down.”
Bradley Cooper learned the hard way that it’s important to be extra vigilant while riding taking public transportation in New York City. On a recent episode of Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, the A Star Is Born actor revealed that he was held at knifepoint in a subway station in 2019 while en route to his daughter’s school.
“It was pretty insane,” Cooper said, explaining that he was simply trying to pick up his daughter but quickly realized that he had “gotten way, way too comfortable in the city.” “My guard was down,” he admitted. “I was all the way at the end of the subway.” Once he reached the end of the platform, he sensed that he was in danger.
“Innately, I would just go all the way down to the end,” Cooper, 46, continued. “I felt somebody coming up. I thought, Oh they want to take a photo or something.” But soon, it became clear the person wasn’t a fan. “As I turned, I’m up against the post like it’s The French Connection or some sh*t, and I turned,” the Hangover actor said. “I looked down and I see a knife.”
Cooper explained that as the terrifying incident was happening, he couldn’t hear anything because his headphones were in. “I’m just listening to music. So it’s scored. The whole thing was scored,” he explained. “I look up, I see the person’s eyes, and I’m taken by how young they are.” The actor didn’t reveal any additional details about the knifeman, but he did manage to snap a photo.
“I just started booking, just started running,” the American Sniper star told Shepard. “I jumped over the turnstile, hid around the white, tiled entrance to the subway, took my phone out. He jumped over, running away. I took a photo of him.” He managed to get more photos after chasing the perpetrator up the stairs and up 7th Avenue.
“I took two more photographs of him,” Cooper said. “I ran down two police officers in an SUV, showed them the photograph...[they were] like, ‘Are you stabbed?’ I was like, ‘No, no.’” Still, the police made him check for any possible wounds. “What happens is people get stabbed and they’re in shock,” the actor said. “I looked to see if he was right.” Fortunately, Cooper wasn’t harmed.
