Bradley Cooper says he was held at knifepoint on New York subway: ‘I just started running’

‘I realised I had gotten way, way too comfortable in the city,’ actor said

Bradley Cooper has recalled being held at knifepoint while travelling on the New York subway.

The A Star is Born actor opened up about the incident, which took place in October 2019, as he picked up his daughter Lea who he shares with model Irina Shayk.

Discussing how he often used to walk around the city with headphones on before the pandemic on Monday’s (29 November) episode of Dax Shephard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Cooper recalled: “I was on the subway, 11.45, to pick [up] Lea downtown at Russian school and I got held up at knifepoint... It was pretty insane.

“I realised I had gotten way, way too comfortable in the city. My guard was down.”

He added: “I’m all the way at the end of the subway… I felt somebody coming up but I thought, ‘Oh, they want to take a photo or something.’ As I turned, I’m up against the post like it’s The French Connection or some s***. And then I turned and I looked down and I see a knife.”

Cooper estimated that the weapon would have been around “two-and-a-half inches”, saying: “I just started running, jumped over the turnstile, hid around the white, tiled entrance to the subway, took my phone out.”

The actor continued: “He jumped over, running away and I took a photo of him. Then I chased him up the stairs. He started running up seventh Avenue. I took two more photographs of him. I ran down two police officers in an SUV, showed them the photographs.”

The officers, Cooper said, asked him to check whether he’d been stabbed or not, as many victims go into shock when attacked.