Bradley Cooper describes being held at knifepoint in New York City

The latest Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard episode didn't waste any time.

Bradley Cooper was Shepard's guest. They began their conversation by gushing over Cooper's Apple AirPods Max, and two minutes later, Cooper casually dropped a gossip bomb.

"I used to walk around New York City all the time with these on, and this was pre-pandemic, and I was on the subway [at] 11:45 to pick Lea up downtown at Russian school, and I got held up at knifepoint," the eight-time Oscar nominee shared, noting it was in October 2019.

Shepard and Monica Padman, the cohost and editor of Armchair Expert, gasped. 

"It was pretty insane," Cooper continued. "But I realize I had gotten way, way too comfortable in the city. Like, my guard was down."

Cooper, 46, explained that he was at the end of the subway when he felt somebody approaching him but assumed they probably just wanted to take a photo. 

"I'm up against the post like it's The French Connection or some s–t, and then I turn and I look down and I see a knife," he described. "Maybe like two-and-a-half, three inches with a wooden handle. I remember thinking, 'Oh, it's a nice knife.'"

Cooper said that he had his headphones on the entire time, which meant, "I can't hear anything; I'm just listening to music. The whole thing is scored." Unfortunately, he can't remember what he was listening to. But he emphasized that he definitely remembers "being taken by how young" the person appeared to be when Cooper looked up into his eyes. 

Ultimately, Cooper concluded:

"I go like that and knocked his arm up and just started booking. Just started running. Jumped over the turnstile, hid around the white-tiled foyer entrance to the subway, took my phone out. He jumped over, running away, and I took a photo of him. And then I chased him up the stairs. He started running up Seventh Avenue. I took two more photographs of him. 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?' And I was like, 'No, no, no.' He goes, 'No, no, check to see if you're stabbed.' Realizing what happens is people get stabbed, and they're in shock. So I looked to see if he was right. It was crazy, bro. And then I got back on the subway and picked up my daughter."