Hannah Simone. Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Pictures for A-Sport Public Relations
Prince was recognized to be a fan of New Woman, however the cultural icon was mentioned to be a very huge fan of Hannah Simone, who performed Cece.
The actress, now 44, talked about the episode whereas talking to costume designer Debra McGuire on the October 24 episode of Simone and Lamorne Morris‘ New Woman rewatch podcast “The Mess Around.”
“The rationale he wished to do it’s as a result of he had a crush on our little Hannah,” McGuire mentioned, referring to the late singer, who died in 2016 of an unintended fentanyl overdose.
“Yeah. He tried for a really very long time,” Simone mentioned, referring to Prince’s curiosity in her. “He tried for a really very long time to discover a option to be in the identical room collectively.”
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Simone, who has been married to husband Jesse Giddings since 2016, mentioned that she didn’t reciprocate these romantic emotions. “I used to be not thinking about that manner,” Simone mentioned. “Love a Prince tune. Pleased to placed on a Prince document. I used to be not thinking about anything. 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 some relationship drama — however he was actually there for his scene with Simone’s character wherein they performed ping-pong.
“Apparently, with those who he actually likes to have that high quality time with, he favored to play ping-pong,” Simone mentioned. “It was like 5 within the morning, they needed to write within the tag [scene for the end credits], ’trigger how have been they going to include ping-pong into the present? They usually 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 positive it wasn’t shot till that they had all of the footage of the icon they wanted.
“They saved it as the very last thing that we shot, trigger they have been low-key scared that if we shot that early, he could be — he’s Prince,” Simone defined. “So he might be like, ‘OK, I’m gonna go now.’ And so we saved it for the tip.”
The problem, nonetheless, was that Simone didn’t actually really feel like enjoying video games on the finish of an extended shoot.
“And the factor that I’ll by no means [forget] is: I don’t play ping-pong, I’m not a superb ping-pong participant,” she mentioned. “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 Could 2020 Instagram caption, she mentioned that they had a “distinctive” connection.
“It was about 4 am and I used to be curled up in a nook behind slews of background actors who have been ready to shoot a giant celebration scene after which the seas parted and Prince walked although and got here and stood in entrance of me. He mentioned “How are you?” And I replied just like the candy angel I’m “I’M TIRED.” And he mentioned “Nicely then tonight, I’ll dream for you.” He then evaporated and I took this picture.. hours later he reappeared and taught me to play ping pong and it turned the start of some of the distinctive pretty friendships I’ve ever had.”
