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“He took me by the hand and said, ‘I want to show you something,'” Simpson recalled of the ‘Purple Rain’ singer saying to her at a Grammy party at his home.
Prince used an image of Jessica Simpson as motivation.
In an interview for The Cut — alongside her sister Ashlee Simpson Ross — the “With You” singer recalled the moment she made this wild discovery while attending a party of the late icon’s.
“Prince, back in the day, we would get into spiritual conversations. One time during this Grammys party, I went to his house and he was kind of waiting for me. The door opens and he’s standing there. He’s like, ‘Ms. Jessica?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, Mr. Prince?'” she revealed to the publication.
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“He took me by the hand and said, ‘I want to show you something.’ People are walking around with their Grammys, their accolades, and he had just released Musicology,” she continued.
“He couldn’t stand where music was, and he wanted to school people on where music should be. He walks me to his mantel, and he’s like, ‘Do you notice anything?’ I look up and there’s one thing on his mantel, and it was a cutout picture of just my smile framed. I was like, ‘Is that my smile?'”
“He was like, ‘Yes, and I want you to look very closely at that smile and know that no matter how many talks we have about being Jehovah’s Witness or nondenominational or Baptist or whatever it is, God is in that smile. Don’t let any man ever take that smile away from you, and do not let this music business take that smile away from you,'” she revealed.
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After being moved by Prince’s gesture of having her smile on his mantel to remind him to stay strong in the industry, Simpson wanted to do something in return for the icon.
“I put Prince on the mantel of my house in Nashville, this dope black-and-white photo that was him in his element. Just to remember the importance of my smile through whatever it is that I am going through, wherever it is I’m leading myself through, that I am my own guide,” she said.
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It comes as Simpson recently opened up about where she stands with her estranged husband, Eric Johnson, following their separation.
In an interview with PEOPLE, the singer — who revealed her split from Johnson in January — reflected on recording her new music in the wake of the separation.
Simpson, 44, will drop her first song in years, titled “Use My Heart Against Me,” this Friday. It is the first single off her upcoming EP, Nashville Canyon: Part 1.
“I’ve grown up so much. I can handle so much,” she told PEOPLE. “Maybe I’m just meant to love a lot of people in my life.”
“I don’t know why my heart gets tossed around but I’m one of the lucky ones,” Simpson continued, before revealing her current relationship with Johnson. “At least I have my children and I still have Eric. He’s still very much a part of my life and will always be.”
The mom of three will release her EP on March 21, sharing that she recorded her music at their rental home in Franklin, Tennessee, which is near Nashville.
