Bradley Cooper recalls 'insane' moment being held at knifepoint in NYC

Bradley Cooper is lucky to be alive after a life-threatening encounter while on the New York subway in October 2019.

The "A Star Is Born" actor recalled the scary "incident" during an interview on Dax Shepard's Armchair Podcast on Monday. He said he was on his way to pick up his daughter Lea, whom he shares with his ex Irina Shayk, from school when a man threatened him with a knife.

The 46-year old said he was being complacent and did not think about the dangers that could happen in the subway, because he "used to walk around New York City all the time."

"I was on the subway to pick Lea up downtown at Russian school and I got held up at knifepoint," he shared adding that it was "pretty insane." He said the incident made him realise that he had become "way too comfortable in the city" and that he had let his guard down.

"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,'" he explained. But he soon found himself "up against the post like it's the French Connection." He looked down and saw a knife about three inches long.

Cooper said he had headphones on "the whole time" so he could not hear what the man was saying except the music. However, he was taken aback "by how young" the assailant was when he saw the person's eyes.

The actor did not go into detail about what transpired when he was held at knifepoint, but he remembered just running for his life. He said he "just started running," jumping over a turnstile and hiding near the entrance to the subway. He said the person also started running away and that gave him the opportunity to take photos.

Afterwards, Cooper said he "ran down two police officers in an SUV" and showed them the pictures. He remembered one of them kept asking him if he had been stabbed, to which he replied that he had not. But he was asked to check to be certain because sometimes the shock from the incident can take over and people do not realise that they have been hurt. Thankfully, he was not harmed. As if nothing had happened, he then went back to the subway and then picked up his daughter.