Los Angeles [US], June 14 (ANI): Actor Genevieve Chenneour, best known for her role in 'Bridgerton', recently recalled how she fought off a thief attempting to snatch her cell phone at a cafe in London.

According to Deadline, The Daily Mail newspaper published footage of the actress 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.

In her defence, Genevieve, who was a former Amateur Boxing Association qualified boxer and former professional athlete who had represented Team GB in international artistic swimming events, accosted the 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 TikTok that the thief had 'messed with the wrong girl', as per Deadline

'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],' she said.

'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,' she added.

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. (ANI)