The “Michael” actress said that she later met Prince a second time: “He was lovely, but we talked about my hair the whole time.”

Nia Long explains why she turned down Prince’s advances

The "Michael" actress said that she later met Prince a second time: "He was lovely, but we talked about my hair the whole time."

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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June 26, 2026 8:58 p.m. ET

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Nia Long; Prince in 1997. Credit:

Michael Kovac/Getty; Jeffrey Mayer/Getty

- Nia Long said that she met Prince before she was famous but she "didn't know it was Prince."

- Long said that Prince "grabbed her hand," and confirmed Angie Martinez's suspicion that he was "shooting a shot."

- Long later met Prince once she was famous, but he didn't act flirtatiously in their second encounter.

Nia Long is reflecting on the time she inadvertently shut down an encounter with Prince.

The *Fresh Prince of Bel-Air* star discussed meeting the "Purple Rain" musician before she rose to Hollywood fame during a conversation with Angie Martinez on the *Angie Martinez IRL* podcast.

"I still have my Kenneth Cole black snake embossed shoes that I wore when Prince tried to talk to me," Long said before revealing why she turned down his advances at a party. "I didn't know it was Prince."

After Martinez asked if Prince was "shooting a shot" with her, Long responded, "Yeah," adding, "He grabbed my hand, and I was like—"

Long then gestured to retract her hand and made an uncomfortable face to recreate her reaction to Prince's advances.

The *Best Man* star was upset with her friend for failing to identify Prince while they were still in his presence. "We got to the car and my hatin'-ass girlfriend at the time — because she should have told me earlier, let's be real, it was Prince — she goes, 'Girl, you know that was Prince,'" she recalled. "I go, 'Why didn't you tell me before we left the building?'"

Nia Long in April.

Kevin Mazur/Getty

Long indicated that she would have reacted differently if she had recognized Prince in the moment. "If I knew it was Prince, I would have just turned around and said, 'Hello,'" she said.

The *Michael* actress met Prince again later in life, but said that the legendary pop star had a different tone when their paths crossed again. "I met him years later once I became an actress," she explained. "I was like, 'I met you a long time ago,' and he was lovely, but we talked about my hair the whole time because he liked my haircut."

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"He was no longer shooting a shot?" Martinez asked.

"He was not," Long confirmed.

Martinez asked, "So he wasn't giving you the arm touch because you were Nia Long because you weren't even Nia Long [then]?"

Long responded, "No, he was giving me the arm touch because I was petite and brown, and that's what he likes. He's like, 'Who's this little young, hot girl in the fake leather pumps?' In the outfit that I wore to every party."

Prince in 1987.

Dave Hogan/Getty

The actress also said that Prince wasn't the only A-list star at the event where she met Prince.

"Denzel [Washington] was just there," Long said. "I mean, I didn't talk to Denzel at that point, but I was like, 'Denzel Washington's here.' These shoes have miles on them!"

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Long said that she held onto that pair of shoes to commemorate the star-studded evening. "I was like, 'This was the night I met Denzel Washington and Prince in the same night. I'm keeping these pumps for my daughter," she said before clarifying, "I mean, I'm never going to have a daughter, but my granddaughter. I'm done with kids."

Watch the full conversation between Long and Martinez above.

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