A Bridgerton Actor Is Going Viral After Her Fight With A Thief

Genevieve Chenneour’s Bridgerton character, the gossipy Clara Livingston, would probably need a fainting couch if confronted by a London thief, but not the actor herself. In February, she fought off an 18-year-old man who tried to steal her phone at a cafe in Kensington, and the Daily Mail published the CCTV footage on June 10.

As the video gained traction, Chenneour spoke out about the incident on the UK’s This Morning on June 12, discussing how her acting training had helped her.

A Surprise Attack

The CCTV footage shows Chenneour, who joined Bridgerton in Season 3, sitting in the cafe while her friend orders at the counter. The thief approaches from behind, takes her phone off the table, and tries to slip it into his pocket as he walks past her. However, Chenneour turns and realizes what’s happening, and then immediately grabs his wrist to stop him. As she grapples with him, her friend steps in to help.

“When I first saw it, it was shocking, because I don’t even remember my reaction,” Chenneour said on This Morning.

In the moments before, she said, she had “a bit of a sixth sense that something wasn’t quite right.” Only afterward did she realize that he was working with another person and they were trying to find the right target, which she proved not to be. They had “a full-on scrap,” she said, and one of the men threatened to stab her.

Reconsidering Her Reaction

“I don’t know if I would advise anybody else to do it,” Chenneour added. “I think I have very quick reactions thanks to having three brothers growing up, and I’m an ABA-carded boxer. So, I think it just was like an instinct. [I] also do a lot of fight training for work in acting. But yeah, I mean, I don’t know what came over me.”

Chenneour initially thought she’d had “a normal reaction,” but when she read the comments, she realized most people would have let their phone go. She also later learned that the man she’d been fighting had previously been arrested for mugging TV star Aled Jones and threatening him with a machete.

“I realized, like, wow, there is not one look for someone that’s dangerous,” she said. “It can be anybody, and anybody that’s willing to do that might be willing to take it further.”

Parm Sandhu, a former chief superintendent in Britain’s Metropolitan Police Service, joined Chenneour during the interview, and she made sure to advise the public not to engage in these situations.

“Genevieve was very brave and I commend her for that, but I would not recommend that anybody — anybody — fights back,” she said. “It just isn’t worth it.”

In fact, Chenneour previously opened up about the fight to the Daily Mail, sharing she had suffered a concussion. Plus, there were emotional aftereffects for both her and her small dog, who was present during the altercation.

“I was left with a concussion just before the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and since then, I’ve felt constantly on edge,” she said. “Even my dog was traumatised — now, if anyone touches me, he panics and tries to protect me.”