Nia Long has been labeled a forever baddie, and as a result, she routinely turns down her fair share of men who show interest.
However, the actress recently shared that she kicked one superstar to the curb before he became famous—simply because she didn’t recognize him.
Looking back, she revealed her regret at missing a golden opportunity.
During her recent interview with Angie Martinez on her “IRL” podcast, the “Michael” star explained what happened the night that none other than Prince expressed interest in her.
She was still an up-and-coming actress — but she blew him off because she didn’t realize who he was.
Long began by stating that she keeps an archive of clothing from the ’90s that have sentimental value, which according to her, includes a pair of Kenneth Cole shoes she wore “the night that Prince tried to talk to me and I didn’t know it was Prince.”
When Marinez asked if the iconic artist did indeed “shoot his shot,” Long replied, “Oh yeah. He grabbed my hand and I was like,” gesturing that she shooed him away with her hand.
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“Then we got to the car and my hatin’ a— girlfriend at the time, ’cause she should’ve told me earlier, like, let’s be real, it was Prince. She goes, ‘Girl you know that was Prince,’” Long said.
”I go, ‘Why didn’t you tell me before we left the building?’” The “Love Jones” star then admitted “If I knew it was Prince I would’ve just turned around and said hello.”
The chance meetings between the two didn’t end there, as Long also revealed that several years later after she became a household name in Hollywood, the two ran into each other again — and the situation was equally as uneventful.
“I was like, ‘I met you a long time ago,’ and he was lovely, but we talked about my hair the whole time. Cause he liked my haircut,” she recalled, referencing her legendary ’90s pixie hairstyle.
This wasn’t the first time that Long shared her Prince encounter, she previously spoke about the moment in October 2025 while on “The Jennifer Hudson Show.”
During that appearance she revealed that her second meeting with Prince was actually a birthday surprise.
“There’s a happy ending,” she told Hudson, sharing that her friend threw her a birthday party and invited the Grammy winner.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, Prince is at my birthday party!’” Long said. “I sit next to Prince and I’m having this whole flashback about being in the club … and he wanted to talk about my hair all night.”
“I’ll take what I can get,” the actress said, laughing. “It’s Prince. I was like, whatever you want— we can buy hair, makeup, skin care, whatever you want.”
Social media quickly added their two cents at the thought of Long and Prince potentially being one of the 1990s’ hottest couples.
“Prince shot his shot at a lot of attractive women, including Sade and Alicia Keys,” one user wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The come-on always was I’d like to work with you on some music. Of course, knowing Prince, that wasn’t all he wanted to work with.”
“She had a shot with Prince and she missed it…,” another shared.
A third user simply couldn’t believe it, and wrote “You didn’t realize it was Prince??”
