Bradley Cooper Says He Was Held at Knifepoint on NYC Subway Heading to Pick Up His Daughter Lea

Bradley Cooper revealed that he narrowly escaped a harrowing incident before the pandemic began when he was held at knifepoint while riding a New York City subway on the way to pick up his daughter, Lea.

Speaking on the “Armchair Expert” podcast in an episode published Monday, November 29, the A Star Is Born actor said that he “was on the subway [at] 11:45 to pick Lea downtown at Russian school, and I got held up at knifepoint.”

Bradley, , revealed that he was wearing headphones at the time and said that he “used to walk around New York City all the time” listening to music with them on.

“It was pretty insane,” he added of the moment he was held up. “I realized I had gotten way, way too comfortable in the city. My guard was down. … I was all the way at the end of the subway. Innately, I would just go all the way down to the end. I felt somebody coming up. 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–t, and I turned. I looked down and I see a knife,” he added.

Bradley thought that the knife, which he said was around three inches long, had “some history” behind it and was a “nice knife.”

“I have my headphones on the whole time. I can’t hear anything. I’m just listening to music. So, it’s scored, the whole thing was scored,” Bradley said, before revealing he couldn’t remember what song he was listening to at the time. “I look up, I see the person’s eyes, and I’m taken by how young they are.”

While admitting he was taught never to run away from a knife in such a situation, Bradley said he “just started booking, just started running. I jumped over the turnstile, hid around the white, tiled entrance to the subway [and] took my phone out.”

Then as the culprit ran away, Bradley “took a photo of him. Then, I chased him up the stairs,” eventually getting a total of three photos of his would-be assailant.

“I ran down two police officers in an SUV, showed them the photograph, and I’m, like, talking to them, and the guy kept saying — it was so interesting — he’s like, ‘Are you stabbed?’ I was like, ‘No, no.’ He was like, ‘Check to see if you’re stabbed.’ What happens is people get stabbed and they’re in shock. I looked to see if he was right. … And then, I got back on the subway and picked up my daughter.”

Bradley shares Lea, 4, with ex-girlfriend Irina Shayk. The former couple were recently spotted walking arm in arm in Manhattan, igniting rumors that they may have gotten back together following her brief romance with Kanye West.