Over the course of his half-century career, Eddie Murphy has hung out with or met just about every famous person there is and shared some truly epic stories about Richard Pryor, Michael Jackson, Prince and Frank Sinatra, among others.
But one A-list tale he’s kept hidden until now is a special moment he shared with Beyoncé when they appeared together in the 2006 movie adaptation of beloved Broadway musical Dreamgirls. “I did Dreamgirls right when I was getting divorced,” Murphy told Complex’s 360 With Speedy podcast this week about the period in 2005 when he was splitting with ex-wife Nicole Murphy after a dozen years together.
“I was kind of like on automatic pilot, and I don’t remember a lot of making the movie,” he said of the Dec. 2006 release that featured Jamie Foxx playing a Berry Gordy Jr.-esque label boss, as well as Beyoncé as Deena Jones, a character inspired by Diana Ross. Murphy earned his first, and only, Oscar nomination to date for best supporting actor for his role as James Brown-like soul-stirrer James “Thunder” Early.
He said that neither Beyoncé nor their co-star Jennifer Hudson — who won a best supporting actress Oscar in her debut film role as Effie White — know about a unique, sweet moment he observed on set one day. “I watched Jennifer Hudson and Beyoncé, they were in between shots, they were on stage, and Jennifer was new in show business and she had, I guess a finger, right between, was ashy, and she was licking her fingers and getting the ash like that,” he said, pantomiming licking an index finger and rubbing it on a digit on the other hand.
He said Beyoncé grabbed Hudson and said, “‘Oh girl, don’t do that. I’ll get you some cream. It was quiet between the two of them, but I saw it.”
Murphy is currently making the rounds promoting the Amazon MGM Studios casino heist comedy The Pickup, in which he co-stars with Pete Davidson, Eva Longoria and Keke Palmer.
Watch Murphy tell his Beyoncé/JHud story below.