Here’s How Rosie Perez Hooked Up Madonna With Tupac Shakur

Rosie Perez is the ultimate wingwoman.

The White Men Can’t Jump actress sat down with Drew Barrymore on the latter’s talk show this week, where she recalled a pivotal moment in the 1990s when she and her late friend Tupac Shakur had each other’s backs. “So I was going to the Soul Train Music Awards and my date calls me up a half an hour before I’m getting in the car and says, ‘I can’t go with you because my girlfriend will see me,’” Perez recalled of the 1993 event.

“I was like, ‘You mother…,” she continued, noting that she hung up the phone on the shady man. When her phone rang again, she expected it to be him calling her back but then realized it was Tupac, and she started crying over the situation. “And he said, ‘You know what, I’m gonna go with you, we’re gonna walk up in there, we’re gonna act like we’re on a date, and he’s going to die,’” Perez said of the “Dear Mama” rapper.

Things were going well at the event when Madonna approached Perez asking if she and Pac were a couple. “She goes, ‘Hook me up. I said, ‘You got it,’” Perez recalled.

Madonna and Tupac went on to date secretly from 1993 to 1994. The Queen of Pop later confirmed the relationship in a 2015 interview during an interview with Howard Stern. During their conversation, Madonna was asked about a 1994 appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman, where she repeatedly used swear words. “I don’t know, I was in a weird mood that day,” she said of the situation. “I was dating Tupac Shakur at the time, and the thing is he got me all riled up about life in general. So when I went on the show I was feeling very gangster.”