Prince was identified to be a fan of New Lady, however the cultural icon was stated to be a very large fan of Hannah Simone, who performed Cece.

The actress, now 44, talked about the episode whereas chatting with costume designer Debra McGuire on the October 24 episode of Simone and Lamorne Morris‘ New Lady rewatch podcast “The Mess Round.”

“The explanation he wished to do it’s as a result of he had a crush on our little Hannah,” McGuire stated, referring to the late singer, who died in 2016 of an unintentional fentanyl overdose.

“Yeah. He tried for a really very long time,” Simone stated, referring to Prince’s curiosity in her. “He tried for a really very long time to discover a method to be in the identical room collectively.”

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Simone, who has been married to husband Jesse Giddings since 2016, stated that she didn’t reciprocate these romantic emotions. “I used to be not focused on that method,” Simone stated. “Love a Prince tune. Completely satisfied to placed on a Prince document. I used to be not focused on the rest. So I used to be by no means in the identical room with Prince. After which yeah, he was like a teenage boy who confirmed up at my job, which was actually humorous.”

The “Purple Rain” singer appeared on the hit Fox sitcom (which aired from 2011 to 2018) in a season 3 episode, which premiered proper after Tremendous Bowl XLVIII in 2014. The episode featured Prince serving to Nick (Jake Johnson) and Jess (Zooey Deschanel) work by means of some relationship drama — however he was actually there for his scene with Simone’s character wherein they performed ping-pong.

“Apparently, with folks that he actually likes to have that high quality time with, he appreciated to play ping-pong,” Simone stated. “It was like 5 within the morning, they needed to write within the tag [scene for the end credits], ’trigger how had been they going to include ping-pong into the present? And so they needed to write this tag the place Prince would get his request, which was: He wished to play ping-pong with me.”

The ultimate scene of the episode reveals Prince enjoying desk tennis with Cece, however the crew made certain it wasn’t shot till they’d all of the footage of the icon they wanted.

“They saved it as the very last thing that we shot, trigger they had been low-key scared that if we shot that early, he could be — he’s Prince,” Simone defined. “So he may very well be like, ‘OK, I’m gonna go now.’ And so we saved it for the tip.”

The difficulty, nonetheless, was that Simone didn’t actually really feel like enjoying video games on the finish of a protracted shoot.

“And the factor that I’ll by no means [forget] is: I don’t play ping-pong, I’m not a very good ping-pong participant,” she stated. “I used to be so drained. It had been a 20-something hour day, and I simply slammed the shot. My physique simply went like, ‘We’re doing it.’ After which he was like — he genuinely did stroll off, which was actually humorous.”

Whereas a potential romance was off the desk, the episode did spark a friendship between Simone and Prince. In a Might 2020 Instagram caption, she stated they’d a “distinctive” connection.

“It was about 4 am and I used to be curled up in a nook behind slews of background actors who had been ready to shoot a giant get together scene after which the seas parted and Prince walked although and got here and stood in entrance of me. He stated “How are you?” And I replied just like the candy angel I’m “I’M TIRED.” And he stated “Effectively then tonight, I’ll dream for you.” He then evaporated and I took this photograph.. hours later he reappeared and taught me to play ping pong and it grew to become the start of probably the most distinctive beautiful friendships I’ve ever had.”