The Rivals star<\/a>, 48, spoke about the shocking incident for the first time on Elizabeth Day<\/a>\u2019s How to Fail podcast, confessing that she felt \u201cshame\u201d over it. <\/p>\n Parkinson recalled that she\u2019d been acting in a play in \u201ca town outside of London\u201d and had booked the cheapest accommodation she could find, in an attempt to save money from the job. <\/p>\n The It Crowd actor said she was walking home from the theatre one night with a colleague when they were approached by a man with \u201cprevious form\u201d, who got into a disagreement with her co-worker.<\/p>\n \u201cI said, \u2018Leave her alone,\u2019 and he knocked me out cold, broke my nose and everything else,\u201d Parkinson said, telling Day that the man was arrested and sentenced for Actual Bodily Harm. <\/p>\n She became emotional as she spoke about overhearing a nurse in the hospital that night commenting on her being \u201ca nice girl\u201d \u2013 and being asked what she had been doing before the attack.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sense of shame I felt\u2026there was a sense that I\u2019d brought it on myself,\u201d she said, pointing out the disparity in the treatment from friends who would let her walk home on her own.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt like I was a cheaper commodity when I was just as vulnerable,\u201d she said, \u201cso I think it\u2019s good with hindsight to acknowledge it, and to acknowledge the legacy of something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Parkinson said she was, as a result, \u201creally neurotic\u201d about her daughters walking anywhere, but only made the connection when a fellow parent asked her about it at the school gates.<\/p>\n \u201cI think my generation, there was a sense of \u2018getting on with it\u2019,\u201d she said, \u201cand I think there\u2019s a lot to be said for getting on with things. But I also think, although I haven\u2019t had therapy, the wisdom of therapy has bled into our culture in a way I find very helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Katherine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/katherine-parkinson-jpg.png\")
Katherine Parkinson spoke about being attacked on Elizabeth Day\u2019s How to Fail podcast (YouTube\/How to Fail)<\/p>\n![\"Katherine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/RIVALS2_ValentinesExclusive_Disney.jpeg\")
Katherine Parkinson with co-star Danny Dyer in \u2018Rivals\u2019 (Disney +)<\/p>\n