Susanna Reid speaks out about her near-death encounter after being mugged in the street

Susanna Reid has spoken about the terrifying moment she was threatened by a man with a knife on a night out.

The Good Morning Britain presenter, 50, has openly shared her support for Crystal Palace football club’s Divert scheme, which aims to reduce knife crime, and has shared her scary ordeal as part of her involvement.

Susanna revealed that when she was on a night out 25 years ago, a man with a knife tried to mug her, and when he fled she discovered a knife slash ‘across her body.’  

Susanna is a life-long supporter of Crystal Palace and is a patron for their charity Palace For Life Foundation. 

The organisation has their Divert scheme, which aims to reduce knife crime, gangs and anti social behaviour and it was at one of these events when Susanna revealed her own brush with a knifeman. 

Susanna explained that when she was mugged she did not realise that when they stole her bag with money in they had also torn her clothing with a knife and she narrowly avoided what could have been a fatal incident. 

Terrifying: Susanna revealed that when she was on a night out 25 years ago, a man with a knife tried to mug her, and when he fled she discovered a knife slash ‘across her body’; pictured around the same time 

Good cause: The Good Morning Britain presenter is a life-long supporter of the South London football club Crystal Palace and is a patron for their charity Palace For Life Foundation; pictured November 2021

She said at the event: ‘I feel particularly affected and touched and moved to support the work that is being done to tackle knife crime. And my heart breaks for anybody who has been affected.’ 

She went on to draw on her own experience of being a mother to sons: ‘I’ve got three teenage boys. 

‘And we know it’s hard to find a group of teenagers in South London who are not affected in some way by knife crime.’ 

Susanna detailed how the cause affects her personally, saying that she had once been mugged before heading on a night out.  

‘Twenty-five years ago, I was walking through South London. I had just taken a load of cash out of a cash machine to go out for a night out. And a young lad came up to me and got my bag off me.

‘And as he ran away, I ran after him. And in fact, he dropped my bag, he took the money.

‘But I looked down at the bag, and at my coat. And there was a knife slash across my body, through my clothes and through my bag.’

Oh no: Susanna’s experience 25 years ago was after she had her bag stolen by a group of teenagers. She said of the mugging: ‘There was a knife slash across my body, through my clothes and through my bag’; pictured in a Crystal Palace top in 2015 

The revelation comes after she claimed back in March that she’d put on ‘a few pounds’ during lockdown, while speaking candidly about her weight gain on GMB.

The presenter joked to co-host Ben Shephard that ‘hot girl summer is a couple of months away’ as Andi Peters announced a competition while stood beside a pool, which prompted Susanna to reflect on her figure.

Susanna said: ‘I’ll tell you what, it’s a little early for a swimsuit. I’ve been in lockdown, there’s a few pounds that have gone on. Hot girl summer is a couple of months away. I’ll tell you.’

The TV host previously admitted she’d gained a stone during the UK’s lockdown last year, telling Joe Wicks she had been struggling to exercise and eat a healthy diet.

Pandemic: The revelation comes after she claimed back in March that she’d put on ‘a few pounds’ during lockdown, while speaking candidly about her weight gain on GMB; pictured left in 2019 and right in 2021 

She told The Body Coach star, ‘I’m going to be battling with the lockdown stone, it went on during lockdown one. I really don’t want another one going on during lockdown two.’  

The star has openly documented her weight loss journey after learning in 2018 that her weight meant she was at the top end of her BMI.

In March in 2019, Susanna revealed that she managed to drop a stone and a half after quitting booze and cutting down on her snacking.

Speaking to Lorraine Kelly at the time, she said: ‘I went to a doctor because I just wanted to ask him about skin problems and he said I recommend two things.

‘One is you stop drinking or cut down on drinking and one is you lose some weight because you are at the top end of your BMI.

‘It can creep up without noticing, I cut out snacking, I found waking up so early in the morning and you’re in energy deficit and all your body can think it have toast have biscuits and you can pile it one really.’ 

Open: The star has documented her weight loss journey after learning in 2018 that her weight meant she was at the top end of her BMI