  We study the luminosity function of intermediate-age red-clump stars using
deep, near-infrared photometric data covering $\sim$ 20 deg$^2$ located
throughout the central part of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), comprising the
main body and the galaxy's eastern wing, based on observations obtained with
the VISTA Survey of the Magellanic Clouds (VMC). We identified regions which
show a foreground population ($\sim$11.8 $\pm$ 2.0 kpc in front of the main
body) in the form of a distance bimodality in the red-clump distribution. The
most likely explanation for the origin of this feature is tidal stripping from
the SMC rather than the extended stellar haloes of the Magellanic Clouds and/or
tidally stripped stars from the Large Magellanic Cloud. The homogeneous and
continuous VMC data trace this feature in the direction of the Magellanic
Bridge and, particularly, identify (for the first time) the inner region
($\sim$ 2 -- 2.5 kpc from the centre) from where the signatures of interactions
start becoming evident. This result provides observational evidence of the
formation of the Magellanic Bridge from tidally stripped material from the SMC.
