While actors are certainly accustomed to a fair amount of violence and drama thanks to their line of work, it feels pretty safe to say nothing can prepare you for what happens when the stakes are real. This is a lesson The Hangover and Silver Linings Playbook star Bradley Cooper unfortunately learned when he was reportedly “held up at knifepoint” in New York City two years ago. Cooper opened up about the terrifying incident in a recent episode of Dax Shepard‘s podcast, Armchair Expert, revealing for the first time the details of exactly what happened back in October 2019 (via Mediate).
According to Cooper, the assault happened while he was on his way to pick up his daughter from school. The actor said he was waiting at a New York City subway station listening to music when he noticed a person was approaching him, however he quickly dismissed the behavior as a fan approaching him for a photo — until he noticed they were clutching a knife.
“I realized I had gotten way, way too comfortable in the city,” Cooper admitted. “My guard was down.”
After noticing the weapon, Cooper said he looked up at his assailant and was “taken” by how young they were. He then proceeded to describe the whole encounter as something out of a movie, citing The French Connection and light-heartedly adding in “the whole thing was scored” by the music playing from his headphones. Thankfully — and in spite of how surreal the situation was — Cooper was somehow able to literally jump into action, and even managed to snap a few photos of his attacker.
“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 that he then showed the pictures he took to a group of New York City Police officers, one of which asked the actor to check if he had been stabbed since some people are too in shock to realize. Luckily for Cooper, he escaped scathe-free and was able to get back on the subway to pick up his daughter.
“It was crazy,” he told Shepard.