Bradley Cooper Talks About Being Held at Knifepoint Taking NYC Subway

Bradley Cooper is opening up about a 2019 incident in the subway system in New York City, where he was held at knifepoint.

The A Star Is Born director caught up with Dax Shepard on his latest episode of podcast Armchair Expert, explaining the encounter took place as he was on his way to pick up his daughter from school. When a man approached Cooper, the actor assumed he wanted a photo, then realized the stranger was holding a knife up to him.

“It was pretty insane,” Cooper said. “I realized I had gotten way, way too comfortable in the city. My guard was down.”

The actor explained that the “whole thing was scored,” since he was wearing headphones and had no idea what the man was saying to him. Cooper wound up making a break for it toward the entrance of the station, jumping a turnstile and briefly hiding as he grabbed his phone to photograph the would-be attacker. The Guardians of the Galaxy alum chased the man to 7th Avenue before getting a few pics. He took the information to New York City Police officers, who asked Cooper if he was stabbed, an injury people sometimes fail to realize when they are in shock.

“I got back on the subway and picked up my daughter. It was crazy,” Cooper said.

Back in August, Barbra Streisand, who starred in the 1976 remake of A Star is Born, shared that she wasn’t impressed by the similarities between Cooper’s remake and her version during a chat with Australian talk show The Project.

“At first, when I heard it was going to be done again, it was supposed to be Will Smith and Beyonce. I thought, that’s interesting. Really make it different again, different kind of music, integrated actors, I thought that was a great idea,” Streisand said. “So, I was surprised when I saw how alike it was to the version that I did in 1976.”