Bradley Cooper was held up at knifepoint on the subway in 2019: 'It was crazy'

Bradley Cooper has revealed he was held up at knifepoint on the New York City subway two years ago, opening up in a podcast intervew about the "crazy" incident.

The Oscar-nominated actor during an appearance on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast said that in October 2019, he was on the New York City subway and "got held up at knifepoint" while on his way to pick up his daughter from school.

"It was pretty insane," he said. "I realized I had gotten way, way too comfortable in this city. My guard was down."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Cooper recalled seeing someone walk up to him on the subway and initially assuming they wanted to take a photo, only to look down and "see a knife." He explained he had his headphones on listening to music at the time, meaning "the whole thing [was] scored." When he looked up, he was "taken by how young" the person holding the knife was, and he quickly started running away.

"[I] jumped over the turnstile, hid around the white tiled foyer entrance to the subway, took my phone out," Cooper said. "He jumped over, running away, and I took a photo of him, and then I chased him up the stairs."

Cooper said he then ran down two police officers and showed them the photo he took, and one of the officers told him to "check to see if you're stabbed," noting it's possible not to realize that at first due to shock. After all of this, Cooper concluded, "I got back on the subway and picked up my daughter. It was crazy."