WATCH: ‘Bridgerton’ Actress Speaks Out After Fighting Off Thief in ‘Increasingly Dangerous’ London
An actress from the hit Netflix series Bridgerton defended herself when she was targeted at a London cafe in February, and the tense moments were caught on camera.
Genevieve Chenneour was inside a Joe and the Juice location in the Kensington neighborhood when the suspect, identified as 18-year-old Zachariah Boulares who is an Algerian national, snuck up behind her and grabbed her cellphone on February 8, the New York Postreported Thursday.
The clip shows the actress confronting the suspect after he allegedly nabbed her phone and tried to walk away. She shoved the man backward and he dropped the phone, but Chenneour picked it up and hit him with it a few times. Moments later, another person approached her and she appeared to exchange words with that individual also.
Chenneour, who said she suffered a concussion during the incident, has since claimed the man who approached her after she retrieved her phone threatened to stab her several times.
The actress has also since revealed she is taking a break from living in London after the traumatic event that has caused her to be hyper-aware of her surroundings, per the Daily Mail.
When speaking of how she responded to the targeting, Chenneour said, “I think I have very quick reactions, thanks to having three brothers growing up and I’m an aviated carded boxer. I think it just was an instinct, I also do a lot of fight training for work and acting.”
Meanwhile, a report from the Standardoffered more details regarding the suspect’s dark history:
Boulares, who has a long list of previous offences as a teenager, has now been revealed as the thug who threatened TV star Aled Jones with a machete as he stole his £17,000 Rolex watch.
He was then aged 16 and could not legally be identified as he was sentenced to a two-year detention and training order for the attack on the Songs of Praise presenter in west London in July 2023.
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Boulares is currently being held at Wormwood Scrubs prison, awaiting sentence at Isleworth crown court on June 17. He has admitted theft and common assault, as well as a separate handbag snatch from January 30 this year.
The Standard report also said he had previously robbed an elderly man of his Rolex at Paddington station in 2023.
According to Chenneour, “London has become increasingly dangerous, and this cannot be normalized. I’m not just speaking for myself — I’m speaking for every person who’s had enough.”
