Matthew Broderick Recalls Getting 'Mugged Often' While Growing Up in NYC

Matthew Broderick is looking back at growing up in New York City.

During an interview on the iHeartPodcast Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi on Tuesday (September 5), the 61-year-old two-time Tony Award winner recalled getting mugged frequently while growing up on Washington Square North when he was younger.

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“I got mugged often! I’ve been mugged all through the Village, Times Square, Upper West Side,” Matthew shared with host Bruce Bozzi.

Ironically though, Matthew added, “I never had any money! And people constantly wanted [to mug me].”

As for why he was a frequent target, Matthew thinks it’s because he was “a young guy.”

“I’m talking like 12 [years old] — that’s when it happened a lot,” Matthew said. “It was mostly other boys just being bullies and getting lunch money or something like that. But sometimes it was somewhat scary.”

Matthew also 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!” Matthew recalled. “It was not a joke. Thank God, we all survived it.”

Matthew later noted that the times he was mugged “were not like that,” and they were a lot “more intimidating” with assailants telling him, “‘I’m gonna put your head through the glass!’”

“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,” Matthew explained. “[You’re] just waiting, praying for the train to come out of the tunnel on the platform.”

Matthew also said 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,’” Matthew recalled of the officer’s advice. “‘The more time you’re haggling or discussing, the more time you’re in this situation, the worse.’”

Matthew said that he told his parents about getting mugged “only once or twice,” nothing 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,’” Matthew said. “And that was it.”

Bruce noted that the New York City Matthew grew up in “is different than it is now for your kids,” and Matthew agreed, saying, “Yeah, it sure is.”

Matthew still lives in NYC with wife Sarah Jessica Parker and their three kids – son James Wilke, 20, and 14-year-old twin daughters Tabitha Hodge and Marion Loretta Elwell.

During another recent, Matthew recalled struggling to find work after starring in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.