Kristin Chenoweth dated Prince: 'I didn't know it was a date because it's Prince'
Kristin Chenoweth is newly engaged, but there was a time when she was pursued by Prince.
"It happened," the Emmy and Tony Award winner confirmed on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" this week. "I dated [Prince] twice. I didn't know it was a date because it's Prince."
Chenoweth then unraveled the story in remarkable detail:
"So, the manager calls me, and she says, 'Prince wants your phone number.' I was like, 'Yeah, right.' [Snorts] And then Ruth, his assistant, called me and said, 'No, Prince, really.' So I drive in my Honda CR-V in L.A. up to — it was when he was the symbol — the symbol, and I got through. And there was a big purple carpet and a waitress there, and I went in. The hallway was as big as this room. I'm in the library, and I'm looking at what Prince is reading, right? And I hear, click, click, click, click, click, click. It's him in his heels coming towards me."He comes in, and I go, 'Hi, I want to party like it's 1999 and ride your raspberry beret.' He just was like, 'Wah, wah.' And then we had salmon. I hate fish, and so I put it in my napkin. I'll never forget."
Fallon then asked what Prince's place looked like, and Chenoweth said it was "a museum." She also shared that he showed her his collection of "probably 200 guitars," including one that had been Elvis Presley's, before he took her down to the movie room in the basement.
"I did this opera called Candide, and it was on PBS, and he said, 'Look at the [way] you sing this aria. You inspire me,'" Chenoweth continued, now getting emotional. "I'm sorry. It's so weird to cry, but I thought, are you insane? I'm not watching myself! And he said, 'What you do is what I like to do with the guitar.'"
Prince died April 21, 2016, from an accidental fentanyl overdose. The seven-time Grammy winner (and 38-time nominee) was 57 years old.
Chenoweth announced her engagement to guitarist Josh Bryant on Oct. 29 after three years of dating.
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