Nicole Scherzinger Reveals on ‘Hot Ones’ Prince Once Hid Behind a Bush to ‘Get My Attention’

Prince was a musical legend, fashion icon and overall mystical being, but according to Nicole Scherzinger, he also wasn’t above crouching behind some greenery from time to time.

While talking about the late superstar on the Thursday (July 17) episode of Hot Ones, the Broadway star recalled a hilarious memory of Prince — whom she called “my mentor, my friend and my brother” — camouflaging himself in order to speak to her at a hotel in Las Vegas. Scherzinger and her friends had been there to see the High Priest of Pop perform later that night, but at the time, they were just chilling by the pool.

“We’re super excited to see the show and to see him perform and support him,” Scherzinger told host Sean Evans. “Me and my girlfriends are like, ‘This is awesome, the sun is shining, we get to see Prince tonight in concert, it’s gonna be magical.’ And me and my friends are talking, and then we hear a ‘Psst. Psst!’”

“We see this bush kind of moving,” she continued, trying not to laugh as she recounted the story. “And we hear, ‘Psst, psst!’ And I’ll be damned, Prince was hiding behind the bush trying to get my attention. I don’t know why!”

Scherzinger added that the Purple One was all decked out in full glam and shoulder pads as he stooped behind the bushes. “It was, like, noon,” she said as Evans cracked up. “Fully dressed, looked amazing. Just Prince-ing it up. Heels and all.”

Also on the show, Scherzinger — struggling to keep her composure in between bites of super spicy chicken wings — recalled how Prince came to see her perform in the 2014 West End revival of Cats. Shortly after the musical mastermind died at the age of 57 a couple of years later, the singer-actress wrote in a tribute on Instagram, “One cannot put into words the godly talent, power and magic he possessed … Through his integrity, Prince taught me the importance of being true to myself in this industry and through his wisdom and love, he has fueled my purpose and vision.”

Scherzinger’s appearance on Hot Ones comes as the star is closing one major career chapter while starting another. On Sunday (July 20), she’ll perform her final show of Sunset Blvd. on Broadway, for which she won a best actress Tony award in June. She’s now in the process of rolling out Building the Band, Netflix’s new singing competition series that finds the former Pussycat Dolls star guiding young singers as they form their own vocal groups.

The series premiered July 9 and also stars the late Liam Payne as a judge. In a recent interview with Billboard about the project, Scherzinger — who assisted in the formation of Payne’s former band, One Direction, on X Factor many years ago — said that Building the Band had been Payne’s “happy place.”

“I saw the joy it brought to Liam,” she said at the time. “To be able to bestow any inspiration and knowledge and wisdom and experience on any of these contestants and these bands, it brought us all joy. Particularly Liam. I felt this really inspired him and this was his happy place. This was his happy place because Liam was such a beautiful heart, and he loved to give back. He loved to help.”

Watch Scherzinger on Hot Ones above.