Katherine Jenkins says she acted on “instinct” when she intervened in a street robbery.

The opera star, 39, was also mugged herself after going to help “an older lady being viciously mugged”, her agent said at the time.

“She was clearly in distress, screaming for help,” Jenkins told The Sunday Telegraph’s Stella magazine.

“So many people just walked past. It was an instinct to rush over and in doing so I got attacked as well.”

The star said: “I didn’t consider that people might know who I am – I gave the police my married name.”

Jenkins was on her way to sing at a charity carol concert on the day of the incident in December.

“I was shaken up initially. But my instinct is always to keep going, so I got out there,” she said.

The mezzo-soprano and mother-of-two also spoke about her marriage to US film director Andrew Levitas.

“We are constantly on the move – my husband moved to Serbia for six months to make a movie and at that time I had a five month-old and my daughter and an album.

“He touched down in Heathrow as I jumped in a taxi to go to Tokyo, my mum was there to do the handover, we didn’t see each other,” she said.

“We’re pretty good at making sure we get quality time, though.”