While actors are used to a certain level of violence and drama as a result of their profession, it’s safe to say that nothing can prepare you for what happens when the stakes are high. Bradley Cooper, star of The Hangover and Silver Linings Playbook, learnt this lesson the hard way when he was allegedly “held up at knifepoint” in New York City two years ago. Cooper spoke up about the horrifying occurrence in a recent episode of Dax Shepard’s podcast, Armchair Expert, for the first time, sharing the details of what happened in October 2019. (via Mediate).
Cooper claims the incident occurred when he was driving to pick up his daughter from school. The actor said he was listening to music at a subway station in New York City when he observed someone approaching him, but he quickly discounted the behavior as a fan approaching him for a photo — until he noticed the individual was holding a knife.
Cooper said, “I realized I had become way, far too comfortable in the city.” “I had let my guard down.”
Cooper stated he looked up at his assailant after discovering the weapon and was “taken” by how young they were. He then proceeded to recount the entire interaction as if it were a scene from a movie, mentioning The French Connection and jokingly adding, “the whole thing was scored” by the music playing through his headphones. Cooper, thankfully — and despite how bizarre the situation was — was able to leap into action and even got to take a few shots of his assailant.
“I just started booking, just started running,” he recalled. “I jumped over the turnstile, hid around the white, tiled entrance to the subway, took my phone out. [The suspect] jumped over, running away. I took a photo of him. Then I chased him up the stairs. He started running up 7th Avenue. I took two more photographs of him.”
Cooper said he then presented the photos he took to a group of NYPD cops, one of whom asked him to verify if he had been stabbed because some people are too shocked to notice. Cooper, fortunately, was unharmed and was able to return to the train to pick up his kid.
“It was insane,” he admitted to Shepard.
