Bridgerton actress Genevieve Chenneour has described how she fought off a thief attempting to snatch her mobile phone in a central London cafe.
The Daily Mail newspaper has published footage of the actress – who plays Miss Clara Livingston in the hit Netflix period drama – sitting with her dog in a cafe in West London, being approached by a man who picked up her phone from next to her on the counter.
Unfortunately for him, he didn’t have the information that, prior to her acting career taking off, Chenneour was a former Amateur Boxing Association qualified boxer and former professional athlete who had represented Team GB in international artistic swimming events.
The footage of the incident – which took place in February – shows Chenneour realising what had happened and accosting her thief with several blows before she got her phone back. She later recounted the whole incident lasted about five minutes, with her attacker pinned to the floor for most of the time. Chenneour also had the help of another customer in the cafe.
The actress said on TikToktold that the thief had “messed with the wrong girl” and she ITV morning show This Morning:
“I had a bit of a sixth sense that something wasn’t quite right, as woman you have that kind of intuition.
“I don’t know if I would advise anybody else to do it.
“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…
“I thought that was a normal reaction and I read all the comments [online] and realised, actually, a lot of people would just let them take the phone.’
“It kind of went round the corner and it turned into a full-on scrap with two people [Boulares and his accomplice].
“And I was threatened with being stabbed so it became a real matter, in my mind, of life and death.
“So, I did things like, I remember kicking him back with my leg to create space in case he had a weapon on him… It was just a life-changing, crazy moment.’
The thief – who has been named as Zacariah Boulares – previously attacked TV host Aled Jones for his Rolex watch in 2023, and was given a youth detention, serving 14 months. He has since turned 18, hence he is now able to be named.
A police officer appearing alongside Chenneour on the TV show stressed that everyone should be aware of potential thieves in the city’s popular spots, with mobile phone theft on the rise.
Former Chief Superintendent Parm Sandu said: “Genevieve was very brave and I commend her for that but I would not recommend anybody, anybody fights back. It just isn’t worth it. You don’t know what these people are carrying.”
