Bridgerton actress Genevieve Chenneour has revealed she was attacked again in London, just months after she was caught in a brawl with a phone thief in the capital.
The actress, 27, broke down in tears as she explained on Instagram that a man had targeted her and hit her without warning near Oxford Circus moments before she was meant to walk into an audition.
Speaking through tears, Ms Chenneour said she was left “shaken” by the attack and “kept on having panic attacks” following the altercation.
Filming in a private space above the audition space, the actress said: “Guys, literally five minutes before my audition, I was walking around the corner at Oxford Circus and this guy just looks at me, and targets me, and f***ing hits me.
“I'm like, against the wall, and I was right about to arrive for my audition. So I had to come in, and I'm trying to gather myself, but I'm so shaken.”
The actress described how it was “nerve-racking” to be in central London after she was attacked in February.
The star was buying a coffee from a Joe and the Juice’s Kensington branch when 18-year-old Zacariah Boulares snuck up behind her and grabbed her handset.
He was quickly confronted by Ms Chenneour, who heard the iPhone 14 being snatched, and then wrestled to the ground by her ex-partner Carlo Kurcishi.
Ms Chenneour described how she had only just got her confidence back and that she was looking to move back to London before the latest attack.
She described her attacker as “about 50 years old, 6ft 3in, Black, wearing a dark-coloured hat and black clothes”.
The actress had previously described how “almost every woman feels on edge in London” after the phone theft incident.
Asked if the city is unsafe for women, she previously told LBC: “Almost every woman I’ve met feels on edge in London, yeah, walking around.”
Ms Chenneour continued: “The level of anxiety for me, putting myself in public spaces now, is pretty awful.
“I have left London. I don’t feel comfortable living in London at the moment. It feels like the right thing for now.”
Describing the flashbacks she’s suffered, the star said: “I fall asleep and then there’s a kind of lucid point in dreaming where I’ll feel like someone’s stealing something from me and I’ll try to grab it and defend myself.
“Then I wake up and there’s no phone in my hand and I’m just in bed and my hands are sweating. I think I do have trauma from this event.”
Ms Chenneour, who played Clara Livingston in Bridgerton, said she “blacked out” after the incident and even when viewing CCTV, did not believe she was the victim.
“I had a moment of disassociation,” she told host Nick Ferrari.
“I can’t believe my reaction. I had no idea I picked up the phone he tried to rob and used it as a weapon to defend myself. I have no memory of that, watching that is bizarre because I actually thought that was someone else’s phone on the floor.
“When I saw the picture of him with the machete, it really hit home that stabbing threat was not a joke. I am lucky.”
The actress has also spoken about how she now experiences “intense anxiety” and flinches when people walk close to her, particularly when she is alone or in public.
“It has made daily life in London feel unsafe,” she said. “I’ve left London. For the first time since I was 15, I've gone back to live with my mum.”
“All of this has had a profound impact on my quality of life - emotionally, practically, and professionally,” she added.
