Matthew Broderick Reveals He Was 'Mugged Often' While Growing Up in NYC: 'I Never Had Any Money!'
"I've been mugged all through the Village, Times Square, Upper West Side," Broderick said in a new episode of the 'Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi' podcast
Matthew Broderick often found himself the victim of muggings when he was younger.
The Painkiller actor, 61, revealed on Tuesday’s episode of the iHeartPodcast Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi that he was mugged frequently while growing up on Washington Square North in New York City.
"I got mugged often! I’ve been mugged all through the Village, Times Square, Upper West Side," he shared. Ironically though, he said, “I never had any money! And people constantly wanted [to mug me].”
As to why he was always targeted, Broderick chalked it up to being “a young guy.”
“I’m talking like 12 [years old] — that’s when it happened a lot,” he said. “It was mostly other boys just being bullies and getting lunch money or something like that. But sometimes it was somewhat scary.”
The Ferris Bueller’s Day Off star remembered a time when he and a friend were skateboarding in Central Park and a “massive gang came flying out” and stole their skateboards. “I got whacked in the head with some sort of stick! It was not a joke. Thank God, we all survived it,” he added.
Related: Sarah Jessica Parker Reflects on 'Miles We Have Strolled' in Anniversary Post for Matthew Broderick
However, Broderick insisted that the times he was mugged “were not like that,” as they were “more intimidating” with assailants telling him, “‘I’m gonna put your head through the glass!’”
Another common scenario? “You get on the subway and somebody will sit next to you and put their arm around you rather aggressively and say, ‘What's in your pocket?’ What's your name?’ — just be like asking you a lot of questions,” he explained. “[You’re] just waiting, praying for the train to come out of the tunnel on the platform.”
Because they were such a regular occurrence for him growing up, Broderick shared that “sometimes a police officer would come to our school and give us a talk [about] how to react properly when you're being mugged.”
“He said, ‘Always bring money with you. Don't go out with no money, and immediately give it up and try to make the experience as fast as possible,’” Broderick recalled of the officer’s advice. “‘The more time you're haggling or discussing, the more time you're in this situation, the worse.’”
“I always remembered that, so try to reach a conclusion. Even if the conclusion is your own death, do it as quickly as possible,” he joked.
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When asked if he would ever come home and tell his parents that he was mugged, Broderick said that he only did so “once or twice.” However, he shared that “back then, they weren’t as watchful as we are to our kids [nowadays.]”
“They were kinda like, ‘Go to a park and come in time for dinner.’ And that was it,” added Broderick.
Bozzi previously noted that the New York City Broderick grew up in is “different than it is now for your kids,” which the actor agreed, “Yeah, it sure is.”
Broderick shares three kids — son James Wilkie, 20, and twin daughters, Tabitha Hodge and Marion Loretta Elwell, 14 — with Sarah Jessica Parker. The couple welcomed their first child a few years after they tied the knot in May 1997 after dating for five years.
During an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show last month, the And Just Like That… star, 58, opened up about her 26-year marriage to Broderick and how they've rarely spent time apart since they had their first date in 1992.
At the time, the shoe designer said she and her husband have “never spent a night apart since [that date], with the exception of work on location, or his mother was ill for a bit so he went to take care of her, but from that first night, we’ve never been apart.”
Parker also listed the many qualities that attracted her most to the No Hard Feelings actor, as well as his unique quirks like riding messenger bikes with no brakes and holding onto buses.
“I liked his person very much. He’s so smart, he’s so funny, I like this choice of friends, the way he was living in New York, what was important to him, how he kind of traveled around the city,” she gushed. “Really smart and really talented and he was, I thought, so beautiful and handsome and charming.”
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